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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



Progressive Studies 
In the Bible.... 



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/by 
SAMUEL DODDS, Ph. D. 

PROFESSOR OF PSYCHOLOGY IN 
GROVE CITY COLLEGE. 



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209 Ninth St., Pittsburg, Pa. 

ERSKINE PRESS. 

1901. 



THE LIBBARY OF 

CONGRESS, 
Two CoHES Received 

AUG. 21 1901 

Copyright entrv 

CLASS CLXXc N». 

COPY B. 






Copyright by 

SAMUEL DODDS 

I90I. 



PREFACE. 

An intelligent age is always interested in the agencies 
that have produced its institutions and the agencies that 
conserve them. The thoughtful student o! history will 
readily admit that the influence of the Hebrew nation to 
produce twentieth century civilization has been greater 
than that of any other nation of antiquity. It does not re- 
quire deep nor prolonged study of social science to discov- 
er that the Bible has been an important factor in shaping 
the civil institutions of to-day. All religions leave their 
mark on the customs and culture of the countries where 
they predominate. The Hebrew religion is no exception 
to the rule. It has had a more potent influence in mould- 
ing western thought than any other religion. Christiani- 
ty is the legitimate outgrowth of it, and wherever Chris- 
tianity has attained a dominant place, peace, prosperity 
and happiness are found. These considerations alone 
ought to give the Bible a place in the curricula of our col- 
leges. They might be re-inforced by weighty moral and 
spiritual reasons. 

No time is so favorable for this study as the years of 
college life. Study is then a business. Later years bring 
so many other interests and subject most men to such 
sharp business competition that Bible study is generally 
desultory and unsatisfactory. The college student, how- 
ever, is free to study a subject apart from its relation to 
bread-winning and money-making. But the advantage of 
any study is in some measure dependent on earnest and 
hard work by the student himself. From this point of 
view it has been found difficult to make the study of the 
Bible an equivalent for one in the other departments of 
college work. The biblical narrative without comment is 



iv PREFACE. 

not enough. Commentaries are numerous but they are 
not adapted to the ordinary student, even had he access to 
them, and leisure to study them. Histories of the Hebrew 
nation do not meet the demand. Books on Biblical In- 
troduction and analyses of books and chapters are helpful 
to every Bible student, but alone do not serve as a college 
text book. 

The present volume is an effort to meet the demand for 
a text book of the Bible that will make the study of it 
equal to any other branch in point of culture, and at the 
same time impart such knowledge of the Hebrew nation, 
its place in hisory, God's purpose in it and his method of 
dealing with it, as every liberally educated person ought 
to know. These studies were originally given as lectures 
to college classes and have assumed their present form 
largely under the inspiration of the classroom. It has been 
difficult to confine ourselves strictly to our original pur- 
pose, to present one fundamental phase of biblical truth. 
We think by adhering to this purpose confusion is avoided 
and a foundation laid for intelligent personal study. Much 
is left for the teacher in the way of comment and applica- 
tion, and many opportunities afiforded to explain the ap- 
plication of the principles of the Hebrew government to 
modern society. We have made no effort to discuss in- 
spiration, authorship^ etc. Those who wish to follow this 
line of study can find many books on it. We have taken 
the Bible as it is and endeavored to learn its contents, its 
purpose and spirit. Although prepared primarily for col- 
lege students in regular class work, the book may be 
used in Normal classes, under the direction of the pastor, 
or in special classes in Sabbath Schools. 

These studies have been in preparation for some years 
and were originally designed for private use. It is not pos- 
sible therefore to give credit to the many authors consult- 



PREFACE. V 

ed, and who have contributed to them. We are, however, 
under great obHgation to the Rev. W. J. Erdman, D.D., 
who read the book in manuscript and made many valuable 
suggestions. Special mention is also due Miss Jennie 
Dale, of the faculty, of Grove City College, who kindly 
read the proof of the entire book. We feel grateful to the 
many students who have taken this work under our tuition 
and whose appreciation has been a constant stimulus and 
satisfaction. And if this book shall have an influence to 
secure a wider and more honored place for the Bible in our 
colleges, and be helpful to those who study its pages either 
in class or in private, we shall feel amply repaid for the 
time and effort spent upon it. 

S. D. 
Grove City, Pa. 
July, 1901. 



CONTENTS. 



Introduction; Object; Method; Divine Revelation Neces- 
sary; Inspiration; The Bible; Bible History 1 — S 

I. 

THE CREATION; Introductory; Sources; Time; Princi- 
ples of Interpretation; Bible and Science; Summary 
of Teaching 9—17 

, II. 

THE TEMPTATION; Introductory; Character of the 
Chapter; The Command; Necessity for the Com- 
mand; Immortality Suspended on Obedience; The 
Sentence; Physical Death; Expulsion from the Gar- 
den; The Way of Life; Corollary 18—27 

III. 

THE FLOOD; Epoch Marking Events; Origin of Sacri- 
fice; The Sacrifice of Cain and Abel; Moral Effect of 
Cain's Sense of Alienation from God; Cain and Abel 
Representative Characters; Cain and Seth; Infiuence 
of the Spirit; Building of the Ark; Locality of the 
Flood; The Flood and Natural Law; Noah's Prophecy. 28 — 38 

IV. 

THE PATRIARCHAL PERIOD; Origin of Nations; The 
Fundamental Principle of the Hebrew Nation; Call 
of Abraham; Abraham's Faith; Isaac and His Fam- 
ily; Jacob's Character; Isaac and the Blessing; Re- 
becca and the Blessing; Jacob and the Blessing; Esau 
and the Blessing; Our Standard of Judgment; Ja- 
cob and Joseph; Supernatural Agency; The Bethel 
Experience; Jacob's Padan-aram life; The Angel 



viii CONTENTS. 

Wrestles with Jacob; The Ordinary Providences; Jo- 
seph's Native Character; Joseph's Dreams; God's 
Purpose in the Sojourn of His People in Egypt; Jo- 
seph a Transitional Character; The Permission of 
Evil 39—68 

V. 

THE EXODUS; Introductory; Israel in Bondage; Moses; 
God's New Name; The Primary Import of the 
Plagues; Character of the Plagues; The First Re- 
quest;; Pharaoh's Heart Hardened; The Institu- 
tion of the Passover; The Passover Typical; From 
Egypt to Sinia; Extreme Conditions Unfavorable to 
Development: The Battle with the Amalekites 69 — 82 

VI. . 

ISRAEL AT SINAI; Retrospective; The Ten Command- 
ments; The Intent of the Law; The Original Contract 
of the Hebrew Government; The Contents of the Ten 
Commandments; A Written Law Necessary; Advan- 
tages of a Written Law; The Character of the Law; 
The Mosaic Code a Development; The Hebrew Crim- 
inal Code; Laws on Treason; Idolatry, etc., Treason; 
Laws on Murder; Character of These Laws; Law of 
Assault; Hebrew Civil Code; Laws of Usury; Laws 
of Servitude; Land Laws; Hebrew Code Humane; 
Laws Adapted to the Times; The Hebrew Govern- 
ment; God's Relation to the Nation; National Con- 
gress; Officers Elected by the People; The Rela- 
tion of the Tribes; The Levitical Code; The Tab- 
ernacle; Apartments and Furniture; An Object Les- 
son; The Priesthood; Origin of Sacrifice; The Rev- 
enue of the Tribe; Sacred Occasions; Hebrew Sacri- 
fices; Origin of the Idea; Type and Symbol; Meaning 
of Sin Offering; Symbolism of the Sin Offering; 
Meaning of the Trespass Offering; Symbolism of the 
Trespass Offering; Sacrifices of Justified Man; The 
Burnt Offering; The Peace Offering; Symbolism of 
the Peace Offering; The Meal Offering; The Books of 
the Law 83—127 



CONTENTS. ix 

VII. 

THE PERIOD OF THE JUDGES; Early Inhabitants of 
Canaan; Limits of God's Commission; Israel's East 
Jordanic Enemies; Balak and Balaam; Distribution 
of East Jordanic Territory; Conquest of Canaan Pro- 
per; Hebrew Destiny Was Providence; Crossing the 
Jordan; The Conquest of the Kings; The Battles; 
The Law Read; Command to Exterminate the Ca- 
naanites; Succession of the Judges; The Judgeship; 
The Government by Judges; Gideon; Private Life 
During the Judges 129—149 

VIIT. 

ESTABLISHMENT OF KINGS AND RISE OF THE 
PROPHETIC ORDER; The Kingdom Established; 
God's Attitude to the Kingdom; The Hebrew King; 
The Prophetic Office; Rise of the Order of Prophets; 
The Prophets' Work 149—159 

IX. 

THE KINGDOM UNITED; Opportunity of the Nation; 
Saul and His Reign; The Character of the Man; 
His Work; David and His Reign; A Man After God's 
Own Heart; Jerusalem Made the Capital City; Na- 
tional Institutions; Danger Lines; Reign of Solomon; 
Solomon as a Man; His Foreign Policy; The Nation 
Under Solomon; The Temple; Disruption of the 
Kingdom; Biblical History; Remote Cause of the Dis- 
ruption; Immediate Cause; It was from the Lord; 
Both Kingdoms Theocratic 161 — 184 

X. 

ISRAEL, JEROBOAM— JEHOR AM; JUDAH, REHO- 
BOAM— ATHALIAH; Character of Northern King- 
dom; Jeroboam's Religious Policy; His Political Po- 
licy; Influences Effecting the Development of the Two 
Kingdoms; The Southern Kingdom During the First 
Epoch; The Reign of Omri; Ahab's Reign; Reign of 
Ahaziah; Jehoram's Reign; Elisha and His Work 185 — 216 



CONTENTS. 



XI. 



ISRAEL, HOUSE OF JEHU; JUDAH, JOASH— UZZIAH; 
The Period of the Prophets; Principles of Interpreta- 
tion; Hazael Usurps the Throne of Syria; Jehu's 
Reign; Reigns of Jehoahaz; Jehoash; Reforms of Je- 
hoida; Reign of Joash; Reign of Amaziah of Judah; 
The Book of Joel; Twofold Significance of Prophecy; 
Reign of Jeroboam II.; Reign of Uzziah of Judah; 
Book of Jonah; Jonah and His Work; Prophecy of 
of Amos; The Prophet's Call; Introduction of His 
Theme; Israel's Criterion of Morals; No Escape from 
Judgment; The Nation Was Religious; The Visions 217 — 248 

XII. 

DECLINE AND FALL OF THE NORTHERN KINGDOM: 
Fall of Northern Kingdom; The Prophecy of Hosea; 
Application; The Hebrew Prophet Subject to Law; 
The Lesson of the Northern Kingdom 249 — 259 

XIII. 

DECLINE AND FALL OF THE SOUTHERN KINGDOM; 
Isaiah and His Times; First Period of His Prophecy; 
Its Relation to the Times and Man; Political Back- 
ground; The League of Ahaz with Assyria; The Out- 
look of Ahaz and Isaiah; Political Setting; Historic- 
al Setting of Chapters 10, 11, 12; Judah's False Con- 
ception of God; Political Setting of Remainder of the 
Book; Isaiah's Contemporaries; Prophecy of Nahum; 
Reign of Manasseh; Reign of Josiah; Reign of Je- 
hoiakim; Prophecies of Zephaniah; Prophecy of Hab- 
akkuk; Fall of Nineveh; Prophecy of Jeremiah; The 
Book; Reigns of Jehoiachin and Zedekiah; Jeremiah 
After the Fall of Jerusalem 260 — 296 

XIV. 

THE PERIOD OF THE EXILE; Babylonia; The Hebrew 
Captives; Fall of Babylon; The Prophets of the 
Captivity; Ezekiel; Prophecy of Daniel; Purpose of 
the Book of Daniel; Contents; Daniel's Visions . . 297 314 



CONTENTS. xi 

XV. 

THE JEWISH NATION AFTER THE RETURN; The 
Return; The Persian History of the Period; The Pro- 
phecy of Haggai; The Prophecy of Zechariah; The 
Reign of Darius; The Jews During the Reign of Dari- 
us I.; The Book of Esther; Ezra and His Works; Ez- 
ra's Reforms; The Prophecy of Malachi; The Jewish 
Prophets 317—330 

XVI. 

ISRAEL BETWEEN MALACHI AND MATTHEW; A 
Period of Origins; Alexander; Effect of the Alexan- 
drian Conquest on the Jews; Palestine Under the Pto- 
lemies; Palestine Under the Seleucidae; The Macca- 
bees; Jewish Parties; Palestine Under the Romans; 
Christ The Culmination of the Hebrew Economy 331 — 341 



INTRODUCTION. 

Object. — In beginning the study of a subject so wide as 
the divine economy in its felation to man, a clear concep- 
tion of the object of the study and the method to be pur- 
sued is important. (i) The Bible contains the deepest 
problems of life ; (2) the history of the world is meaning- 
less apart from the divinely inspired revelation of man's 
place in nature and his eternal destiny; (3) the religion of 
the Bible is the only one that has given a persistent up- 
v.-ard trend to society; (4) therefore, it deserves to be stu- 
died as a means to intellectual culture, for the information 
it contains and as a source of religious stimulus. 

The thought around which the facts of the divine econ- 
omy group themselves is, that an infinitely wise, loving and 
just God was educating a race in truth and righteousness. 
This assumes : (a) A holy God, (b) man as unholy, but 
whose free agency must be respected at all times, (c) a 
means for man's acquittal from death through the person 
of a substitute and (d) his sanctification through the in- 
fluence of the Spirit. The problem, then, that our study 
ought to solve is, how induce in man a feeling of guilt, a 
sense of need and a willingness to accept the substitute 
and to co-operate in the plan. 

Nature is the thought of God, but the science of nature 
is man^s knowledge of it systematized. Redemption is 
the thought of God^ but the science of redemption is man's 
knowledge of it systematized. In the one, the knowledge 
is within the domain of human investigation and reason; in 
the other, the knowledge is to be found in the books of 
the Old and New Testaments. 

Our endeavor, therefore, shall be to systematize Biblical 
truth, so that we may see the wisdom and unity and prog- 
ress in God's plan for man's restoration to divine favor. 



2 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

We hope to follow the steps of the divine author of it as 
they appear in the inspired narrative of its development. 

The Method. — One method of study of the Old Testament 
makes the revelation of Christ the center of biblical truth, 
and to discover Christ in it the end of biblical study. Ev- 
erything is made typical of the person and work of Christ. 
In the deliverances of God's people from their enemies, 
the great deliverance from sin is set forth. Joshua, David, 
the sacrifices, etc., are types of Christ. Literature along 
this line is wide and excellent. It is this phase of Revela- 
tion that furnishes themes for so much of our pulpit and 
platform teaching of the Bible. And it is wisest under the 
circumstances. No one loses in his own spiritual life by 
making the whole of inspired truth to revolve around a 
crucified Christ. 

But the method followed in this study endeavors to dis- 
cover the process of education by which God led his peo- 
ple to a fuller knowledge of himself and his purpose in 
man. Our efforts, therefore, shall be to determine the 
specific application of the providences of God to the person 
or the times effected by them and the purport and influence 
of the civil and religious polity of the Hebrew nation. 

A Divine Revelation Necessary. — But the question might 
arise here, was a divine revelation necessary to this edu- 
cation? Idolatry is the natural religion of fallen man. 
The idols around which these religions center are the 
embodiments of man's own capabilities and aspira- 
tions. Water does not rise higher than its source, 
and no idol can be greater or purer or wiser than 
the mind which conceived it and endowed it with its at- 
tributes. The history of these systems of idol worship re- 
veals the fact that in most cases there has been a sad de- 
generacy in the moral characteristics of the idol. The 
idol at first was the concrete expression of the purest and 



IN THE BIBLE. 3 

best of human thought and aspiration, but it was soon 
given a character more in keeping with the degraded sen- 
timents of its worshippers. Thus idolatry soon breaks 
down with vicious practices all it has done toward 
man's elevation. There is nothing in the thought of a 
pure and holy God to attract the sinner so long as he feels 
that God is offended with him. It is only when man sees 
the rainbow of reconciliation around the throne of infinite 
justice that he begins to seek God. The true religion of 
Jehovah therefore must include such a revelation of God 
as will satisfy the mind and conscience of the worshipper. 
The basal fact in it is the atonement of Christ. Since this 
far transcends human capacity the alternative is hopeless 
loss or a divine revelation. 

Inspiration. — Since man cannot evolve from his own 
nature that which is spotlessly pure and infallibly correct, 
the whole superstructure of the Christian faith stands or 
falls with the doctrine of the inspiration of the Scriptures. 
It is not within the limits of our purpose to discuss the 
different theories of inspiration or even to prove that the 
Bible is inspired. We proceed on the belief that it is in- 
spired. What of revelation lies beyond the boundary line 
of man's own investigation is infinitely wise and infallibly 
true. What of it lies within the limits of history has been 
chosen from the great mass of historic events with infinite 
wisdom in the light of the end to be accomplished and 
recorded with infallible accuracy. The inspiration, how- 
ever, is in the choice of the matter without any indorse- 
ment of the morals of the event recorded. The Bible is a 
history of God's education of the Hebrew nation to wor- 
ship him in spirit and in truth. It is highly important to the 
student that data be given from which a correct estimate 
may be formed of the mental and moral status of the na- 
tion at the time the lesson was given, else its application 



4 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

would not appear. Thus to secure the correct view-point, 
the ordinary tradition of any time may be admitted to the 
biblical narrative, without in any way subscribing to its 
truth. 

The Bible. — The Greek word canon primarily means 
standard, and by usage came to denote an authorized list. 
It was easy to fix the word to the list of books recognized 
by the church to be the inspired rule of faith and practice. 
The Old Testament was originally written in Hebrew, ex- 
cept parts of Jeremiah, Daniel, and Ezra, where the Ara- 
maic language was used. The Septuagint is a Greek trans- 
lation of the Old Testament made about 200 B. C. The 
Vulgate is the Latin translation made in the fifth century. 
The time covered by the Old Testament is about 3,600 
years, or from 4004 to 400 B. C. It contains thirty-nine 
books and the writing of it covers a period of almost 1,000 
years, from about 1400 to 400 B. C. Jewish tradition 
ascribes the editing and arranging of the books to Ezra the 
Scribe. The Jewish Bible was divided into twenty-two 
books, but the two books of Samuel were one; the two of 
Kings, one; the two of Chronicles, one; the twelve Minor 
Prophets, one; Ezra was joined to Nehemiah; Ruth to 
Judges, and the Lamentations to Jeremiah. These con- 
stitute a structural and spiritual unity which destructive 
criticism has never harmed and persecution has never af- 
fected save to increase its power and deepen its influence. 

The Old Testament is a varied collection of History, 
Poetry, and Prophecy. The book of Job, the Psalms, Pro- 
verbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Solomon have es- 
special reference to the development of the individual 
along the lines of truth and purity in thought and action. 
Much of God's power and wisdom and goodness, his 
justice and mercy appears in them as the ground upon 
which God proceeds in the spiritual culture of his people. 



IN THE BIBLE. 5 

They are emphatically devotional and didactic. They have 
only an indirect reference to God's scheme for the restora- 
tion of the human family, and without depreciating their 
importance in the least we do not include them in this 
study. 

Bible History. — The history given in the Bible differs 
from ordinary historical writings in that it is purely religi- 
ous in its purpose. It can be explained on no other hypo- 
thesis. Thoughtful students concede religion to be the 
most potent factor in national development. Its influence 
often lies below the surface,, and is not noticed in 
the glamour of great achievements. Nevertheless it may 
have originated and furnished impetus and direction to 
the movement. In this sense, biblical history is more phil- 
osophical than other histories, for its point and purpose is 
to reveal the relation of the personal and civil life of the 
Hebrews to the religion of Jehovah. He who reads the 
Bible to satisfy curiosity in regard to early civilizations 
must be disappointed, and he who reads it to bolster any 
preconceived notions of the genesis and development of 
the world will not be rewarded largely. It can only be 
satisfying to the student who apprehends its purpose and 
therefore relates it to man as a sinner and to God as a gra- 
cious Father and Savior. 

Bible history falls easily into five parts: 

Part I. Early History of the Hebrew Nation. 

(i) The world^s history as related to the origin 

of nations. 
(2) The Patriarchal Dispensation. 

Part II. The Constitutional History of the Nation. 
(Ex. Lev. Num.) 

Part III. The Establishment of Secular Government. 
(i) Period of the Judges. 



PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

(2) Establishment of the Kingdom and Rise 
of the Prophetic Order. 

Part IV. The Kingdom. 

(i) The Kingdom United. 

(2) The Kingdom Divided. 

(3) The Fall of the Kingdom. 

Part V. The Nation becomes a Church, or the Ecclesi- 
astical History of the Hebrews. 



PART I. 

EARLY HISTORY OF THE HEBREW NATION. 

(i) The world^s history as related to the origin of na- 
tions. 
(2) The Patriarchal administration. 



I. 

THE CREATION. 



Introductory. — Genesis is a very important book. It 
records the beginnings of all the moral agencies which 
have brought weal or woe to the human race in all time. 
The complex fabric of society as we find it to-day, with the 
good and the bad, the happiness and the wretchedness 
woven as a woof-thread into the warp of human attain- 
ment until the thoughtful optimist is almost pessimist and 
the pessimist almost optimist is but the development of 
agencies and principles, the germs of which appear in the 
book of Genesis. The conflict of moral forces in so far as 
it relates to the human family begins here, and neither 
history nor science gives us any other intelligent account 
of it. The Bible student does well w^ho lingers on Genesis 
until he sees clearly the purpose of the divine author of 
revelation and discovers the principles on which God's 
method of education rests. These principles are deep as 
human nature and as far-reaching as human destiny. They 
originate in God and come to the surface in man because 
he is made in the image of God. 

Sources. — Different theories are held in regard to the 
source of Moses' information concerning the facts record- 
ed in Genesis. Some hold that they are the product of 
divine revelation, that, somehow, whether in vision or 
trance, the story of these early times was revealed to him, 
either dogmatically or in panoramic display. Others be- 
lieve that Moses compiled the book from the mass of tradi- 
tion and legend extant in his day. This theory does not 
exclude the divine agency. 



10 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

Much foreign rubbish and gro^s exaggeration would 
vitiate this history, as it was rehearsed by uninspired men 
through many centuries. The writer must be as truly in- 
spired to sift the true from the false as to originate the 
true. It does not lessen, in the least, the necessity of God's 
relation to the book to say that he modified extant tradi- 
tions to conform them to the truth, and used such of them 
as were essential to his purpose. 

The story of creation when compared with man-made 
theories of the same event is easily $een to bear the divine 
stamp. In that it antedates all human experience, it must 
at some time have been the product of a special revelation. 
It matters not whether Adam or Moses was the human 
agent. In our day book-making has largely supplanted 
oral transmission, but in those early ages it was not so, 
Families did then preserve with great care both history and 
tradition. The long life of the patriarchs was peculiarly 
favorable to this method. It is by no means unreasonable 
to assume that many of the ideas in Genesis were natural- 
ly attainable in the time of the author. 

Time Covered by Genesis. — From creation to the settle- 
ment of Jacob's family in Egypt was about 2,300 years, 
4004-1706, or more than is covered by all the remainder of 
the Old Testament. 

ANALYSIS. 

I. Ante-Diluvian period. Chaps. 1-5. 
II. Post-Diluvian period. Chaps. 6-9:18. 
III. Patriarchal period. Chaps. 9:19-50. 

Creation. Chaps. 1-2. — The first chapter should include 
the first three verses of the second chapter. They are need- 
ed to complete the story of creation. The remainder of 
the second chapter includes a sweeping recapitulation of 
the first chapter as introductory to the continued account 
of the creation of man and his location in the garden. The 



IN THE BIBLE. 11 

Hebrew words used to express the idea to create or to 
make are bara, asak, yatsar, yalad. Bara is never used 
when referring to human agency and is used forty-eight 
times of God, occurring three times in the first chapter of 
Genesis. 

ANALYSIS OF CHAPTERS 1-2. 

I. Creation of matter and vegetable Ufe (intro- 
duced by bara). 

1. The universe preparatory to the pre-Adamic 

history of the earth. I :i. 

2. Condition of the earth previous to first day. 

1 :2. 

3. Creation of Hght. 1:3-5. 

4. Creation of firmament, i :6-8. 

5. Creation of dry land and vegetation, i :9-i3. 

6. Creation of sun, moon and stars. 1:14-19. 
II. Creation of animal life (bara used). 1:20-25. 

III. Creation of man (bara used). 1 126-28. 

IV. Man placed at the head of creation. 1:29:31. 
V. God's rest day. 2 : 1-3. 

VI. Review of creation to introduce the more per- 
sonal history of man in his relation to God. 
2:4-7. 
VII. Location of man in the garden. 2 :8-i6. 
VIII. A restriction placed on man. 2:17. 

IX. Creation of woman. 2 :i8-25. 
Principles of Interpretation. — i. The purpose of the Bi- 
"ble is to give to the world, for the edification of the reader 
-of any time, God's revelation of himself. 

2. By far the greater part of this revelation is in the 
form of concrete, objective, providential illustration. This 
embraces the historic part of the Bible. 

3. The remaining part is either psalm or proverb or 
5Uch a revelation as transcends human experience and is 



12 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

given in dogmatic form. This includes the story of crea- 
tion as first given to man, the moral law, etc. 

4. The divine wisdom has put this objective and dog- 
matic teaching on record in such a way that the student 
of any degree of intellectual attainment or culture can get 
the same conception of God from the record, as the events 
recorded were designed to teach those who first received 
them or experienced them. 

The Bible and Science. — The hot contention that has 
been waged between the theologian and the scientist is 
perfectly natural; nor is it to be deplored. Science is 
more exact and biblical interpretation surer when they have 
been compelled to fight their way into popular acceptance. 
These conflicts have been even sharper, if possible, since 
Darwin's "Origin of Species" gave such a mighty stimulus 
to investigation along biological lines. But the ground of 
difference is entirely man-made. It does not exist in the 
subjects. The world is coming to recognize this fact, 
and hence we hear less in these days of attempts to oppose 
one to the other or to harmonize them. Truth in both 
fields is now being sifted from the false by critical testing 
iff-^their respective fields. It is not strange, however, that 
the Christian student did oppose the tenets of science 
when skeptical investigators pushed them to the farthest 
and most ridiculous extremes with the vain boast that they 
would forever destroy faith in the Bible and the Bible's 
God. Respectable scientists do not now assert that the 
beauti/ul adjustments of the material universe, which have 
in them such evident adaptation to a wise end, are the pur- 
poseless products of properties which inhere in matter. 
Such a position can be held only by him who has devoted 
all his energy to minute study of the natural phenomena 
of a single field. His sensibilities must have been stifled 
until atheism is the natural sentiment. A wider view will 



IN THE BIBLE. 13 

render his position untenable even to himself. Herbert 
Spencer posits an unknowable or transcendental force in 
nature and independent of matter as the efficient cause of 
every upv^^ard step in the process of evolution. Had his 
spiritual sensibilities been as strong as his scientific knowl- 
edge was wide and his philosophic speculation profound, he 
would have written an intelligent and loving God, instead 
of transcendental force. His integration of matter and 
concomitant dissipation of motion would have been the 
divine energy working out systematically a wise and all- 
embracing scheme. The ten years that Prof. Clififord gave 
educated men to renounce belief in God are passed, and 
believers in God are multiplied. John Morley no longer 
prints the name of God with a small initial letter, and John 
Romanes, at first an aggressive atheist, before the close of 
his brief life embraced the doctrines of Jesus Christ. 

The Christian mind is predisposed to believe both sci- ^ 
ence and the Bible^ and therefore, an effort is made to 
wheel them into line with each other. So long as there is an 
attempt to make the Bible authority on science there will 
be a conflict between them. When their true relation is 
recognized there can be none. 

If the first chapter of Genesis is forced to explain crea- "^ 
tion from a scientific point of view, it is to say the least 
not a good explanation; but if it is understood to teach 
the great doctrines of God's relation to the world and to 
man, a more grandly sublime passage is not found in any 
literature. It is perfectly adapted to its purpose. 

The Bible touches on scientific subjects only to illus- * 
trate or to impress some moral or spiritual truth. It, there- 
fore, wisely uses the language of appearance. Science may 
shift her position on some phenomenon of nature a dozen 
times, yet the same language will describe it to the mass 
of men. In this way the Bible is a book for all time and 



14 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

is adapted to all grades of culture and scientific advance- 
ment. The Bible and science agree very often, but it is 
simply a coincidence, where the language of appearance and 
scientific language are the same. 

Sometimes illustrations from nature and emphasized 
teachings may reflect light on the intellectual status of the 
people addressed. In these instances the language of ap- 
pearance may not be used. God^s words to Job would im- 
ply that he knew more about astronomy than we are dis- 
posed to admit when he says^ '"Canst thou bind the sweet 
influences of Pleiades or loose the bands of Orion?" Job 
38:31. The belief in Job's knowledge is supported by his 
own words in 2(y'.y\ ''He stretcheth out the north over the 
empty place and hangeth the world upon nothing." These 
exceptions are not numerous. They remain dark places in 
the Bible until science explains them. 

We are, therefore, not called upon to make the first 
chapter of Genesis square with all that science may say on 
the development of our system and the life that inhabits 
the earth. We are not called upon to assume a cosmic 
light tO' support vegetation until the sun and moon were 
created. In a word, we are niot forced to make the first 
chapter of Genesis a chronological epitome of the days of 
creation. It does not deal at length with those parts of 
the universe of no ordinary interest to man. The creation 
of angels is not mentioned; the creation of the devil and 
his fall are not given, although such an account would have 
been a great satisfaction to human curiosity; the moon is 
assigned the second place among the heavenly bodies sim- 
ply because it is second in importance to the race. 

A few strokes of the pen hurries us over countless years 
of deepest interest to science, yet not intimately related to 
the history of man. A few more sentences give the origin 
of life and its development in so far as is necessary to the 



IN THE BIBLE. 15 

plan of redemption. The narrative immediately widens 
when man is introduced. 

Summary of Teaching. — I. God was before creation. He 
is an eternal uncaused existence. The mind and science 
alike recoil from the assumption that we are at the end 
of a chain which has no other. The first sentence in the 
Bible teaches a beginning of things ; but gives no explana- 
tion of it further than that God was the agent or efficient 
cause. 

II. God is in the material universe an ever-acting, 
controlling Spirit who wills and knows and fashions all 
things. That nature is a fixed routine of unintelligent law 
is neither scriptural nor philosophical. That the phenom- 
ena of nature is the expression of a divine energy working 
out systematically an intelligent plan is both scriptural and 
philosophical. This does not necessarily mean that the ac- 
tivities in nature are all the immediate effect of the divine 
energy. God gave matter certain properties when he 
created it, and he allows these to work out their legitimate 
effect. But after man's fall the divine volition assumed a 
more direct and conspicuous influence in the operations 
of the material universe, because nature then became ethic- 
al in its functions. God, therefore, is now in nature in a 
very special sense as a determining and controlling agency. 

The scientist may admire nature^ purely as a scientist, but 
that is all. He cannot love the beautiful adjustments of 
the material universe. The artist who does not see deeper 
than the effect of landscape feels pleasing emotions when 
the shifting canvas of God's creation presents to him wood- 
ed hill kissed by the bending heaven. His feeling is deep- 
er, more soul-inspiring and soul-ennobling when he recog- 
nizes these to be an expression of a loving God. One may 
admire a beautiful face or form, but he cannot love it. 
This emotion is excited by the conception he gets of the 



16 PROGREBSIVE STUDIES 

soul that gives expression to the face. And he, who rec- 
ognizes God in nature and the phenomena of nature an 
expression of God to man, loves God and loves nature be- 
cause of its relation to God. 

III. Man was the culminating point in creation as re- 
corded in Genesis. For his sake all else terrestial was 
brought into being. No mention is made of a pre-Adamic 
race. Let the advocates of the theory prove the exist- 
ence of such a race if they can, but the Bible was written 
for the race that now inhabits the earth. 

IV. Chief interest centers in man because he was made 
in the image of God. This cannot refer to man's physical 
part, for God is a spirit. 

We note a few points of likeness, (a) God and Man arc 
both intelligent. The plans and purposes of one human 
mind are intelligible to another mind of like capacity. They 
may even be apprehended by a study of their physical ex- 
pression, as in a machine. The erratic products of an in- 
sane man are pronounced uninteUigent. Although Paley's 
'^'watch illustration" may not prove all the author purposed 
to prove by it, yet it does establish that nature is intel- 
ligible to man because it is the product of a like intellig- 
ence. (J?) God and man are both moral beings. The Bi- 
ble reveals God as such and the universal recognition of 
right and wrong indicates that man also has a moral sen- 
timent. It comes with the force of an ought and each man 
holds every other man to an obedience to the same convic- 
tion. It always involves more than individual interest and 
is thus the basis of all altruistic sentiment, (c) God and 
man are both free moral agents. This necessarily attaches 
to a moral nature. All ideas of good and bad are related 
to the will. The character of an act is determined by the 
attitude of the will toward or away from the right. Right- 
ness or wrongness implies choice, and choice is inseparably 



IN THE BIBLE. 17 

related to freedom to do or to refuse to do. The fact that 
man may be physically unable to perform the purposes of 
his will does not efifect his moral freedom. 

V. The creation of woman indicates the true doctrine ' 
of marriage. She was related to man only as to the physi- 
cal. There can be no logical plea for her spiritual subor- 
dination. The logical faculty may not be so great in 
woman as in man, but the sensibilities may be keener. 
These oftentimes reveal basal truth which the intellect 
struggles with in vain. An appeal to both biblical and * 
secular history confirms the wisdom of God's plan, one , 
husband, one wife, each a free moral agent and equal be-( 
fore the throne of God. 



18 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

11. 

THE TEMPTATION. 



Introductory. — The account of creation given in the first 
chapter of Genesis differs from that given in the second 
chapter, in the relation expressed between God and man. 
This difference appears in the name for God, introduced 
in the second chapter. In the first it is "God said," ^*God 
saw/' "God blessed/' etc., while in the second chapter it is 
"The Lord God" or, "Jehovah God." Jehovah is God's 
covenant name and embodies the idea of the personal 
relationship of God to man. "The Lord God" is the name 
used in the third chapter, except when the serpent speaks. 
In Gen. 3:15 the Covenant of Grace, with God, a personal 
Savior, comes to the surface. After the oneness of God the 
Creator, and God the Redeemer has been established^ the 
necessity for uniting the names ceases. 

ANALYSIS OF CHAPTER 3. 

I. Immortality conditioned on obedience. 2:15-17. 
II. The temptation. 3:1-5. 
IIL The fall. 

(i) The sin. 3:6. 

(2) The sense of guilt and shame. 3:7. 

(3) Effort to escape God. 3:8. 
IV. The arrest and confession. 3:9-13. 

V. The serpent cursed. 3:14-15. 
VI. The sentence. 3 : 16-19. 
VII. The woman called Eve^ 3 -20. 
VIII. Clothing provided. 3:21. 

IX. Adam and Eve expelled from the garden, and 
the way of the tree of life protected. 3:22-24. 
The Character of the Chapter. — The third chapter of Gene- 
sis is a presentation of a historical fact. The devil 



IN THE BIBLE. 19 

is not mentioned, yet he is constantly in the thought 
of every intelHgent reader. All feel that there is some- 
thing beneath the surface which, though difficult to ex- 
press, is nevertheless the chief import of the narrative. 
There is much that we cannot understand in the ''tree of 
knowledge of good and evil,'' but there is no liability to 
mistake the lesson it teaches. The "tree of life" has the 
same mysterious character. To attempt to literalize too 
closely here is not in keeping with the wisest method of in- 
terpretation. The purpose of the chapter is to present to 
the world and to preserve to all time a vivid presentation of 
the origin of human sin. The highest literary excellence is 
to weave around a thought such a web of imagery as will 
inevitably induce in the reader the emotion the author de- 
sires, or as will certainly communicate to his mind the same 
shade of thought that exists in the author's mind. This is 
difficult when a man writes for his peers of his own time. 
It is vastly more difficult to write for the reader of a far-off 
time and of any degree of culture. Judged by this criterion 
the third chapter of Genesis surpasses any human litera- 
ture. All get practically the same impression from it. It 
matters not whether the imagination picture the tempter 
as a snake crawling on the ground or as a toad sitting at 
the ear of the sleeping woman whispering thoughts of sin, 
or as one of the serpents of geological fame, every one un- 
derstands at once that the cause of man's fall was a tempta- 
tion from a source external to himself. The teaching is 
plain that there was an intelligent spirit in the world, other 
than God, with which man could communicate, and that 
this spirit was not in harmony with God in purpose and 
in effort. 

The Command. — What has been said in regard to the 
character of the chapter relieves us of any attempt 



20 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

to explain the nature of the condition placed on Adam's 
activity. It seems, however, to have been related to the 
mental constitution, for the temptation appeals more to 
the intellectual than to the sensuous. In all probability the 
tree was a literal tree which symbolized a state of knowl- 
edge into which man would have properly come through 
obedience. Gen. 3:4-6; 3:22. 

The narrative is perfectly natural. The temptation 
was ''Ye shall not surely die; for God doth know that in 
the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, 
and ye shall be as God knowing good and evil." The ar- 
gument found a place in the woman's mind, and she im- 
mediately attempted to justify her purpose to eat by add- 
ing to the devils argument, "And when the woman saw 
the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to 
the eyes and a tree to be desired to make one wise, etc." 
The command may have been arbitrary, growing out of 
the sovereignty of God, or it may have been some essen- 
tial condition of human nature; in either case it was equal- 
ly binding on man. 

The Necessity for the Command. — The choice of the good 
in preference to the evil was made possible to man by the 
imposition of the command not to eat of the tree of knowl- 
edge of good and evil, whether it was inseparably related 
to man's nature, or grew out of the sovereign will of God 
apart from all human environments. In either case, the 
command was infinitely wise and infinitely loving, be- 
cause man could exercise his free moral agency on no other 
condition. It is this element in human activity that is 
potent in the formation of character. There cannot be 
the choice to do right without the conscious ability to do 
wrong. This does not mean that Adam was created with 
no moral character. Character is those abiding disposi- 
tions in man that direct his conduct along a certain line. 



IN THE BIBLE. 21 

It determines the attitude of the will toward the good or 
bad. Solomon has reference to it when he says, "^Keep 
thy heart with all diligence ; for out of it are the issues 
of life;" and Christ speaks of the same when he says, '*Ye 
offspring of vipers^ how can ye, being evil, speak good 
things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth 
speaketh." These permanent dispositions always have 
been praised in the good man and reprehended in the wick- 
ed. It, therefore, could not have been said of Adam that 
he was good unless he had a positive moral bias toward 
the good. 

By referring to man's free agency in this connection we 
simply place the responsibility of sin in the world on man. 
It emphasizes in the beginning of human history what is 
so apparent throughout it, that God respects man's free 
agency. He, therefore, educates man by motives address- 
ed to the will through the understanding and sensibilities. 

Immortality Suspended on Condition of Obedience. — Phys- 
ically, man was created mortal, but with a capacity for im- 
mortality. From the innocent state in which he was cre- 
ated he was to pass to innocency maintained in the pres- 
ence of temptation. Rev. 22 114 reflects some light on this 
point: ''Blessed are they that wash their robes that they 
may have the right to come to the tree of life and may en- 
ter in by the gates into the city." The tree of life in Genesis 
refers to the same, and obedience would have admitted 
to it. The temptation seems to have been a desire for an 
enlarged experience. The probability is that, had man 
obeyed the commandments of God, he would have come to 
know good and evil as God knows them, without an experi- 
mental knowledge of the evil. "'Behold the man has be- 
come as one of us, to know good and evil." 

The Sentence. — The sentence was death. A clear con- 
ception of man's relation to God, before and after the fall, is 



22 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

important to an understanding of the terms life and death, 
God endowed man with the capabilities of intellect to ap- 
preciate the wisdom and the power displayed in his works, 
and those ethical qualifications which would cause every 
pulsation of his life to respond to the movements of God's 
holy character. In this way he would have been elevated 
to a higher and higher plane with a fuller view. This re- 
lationship to God was possible only so long as man's nature 
was holy. When Adam sinned he became unholy and 
hence unfit for his primal fellowship with God. Apply 
here the principle of equivalence which everywhere obtains 
in human relationships and the sentence is seen to be the 
legitimate and equivalent punishment. When a man be- 
comes unfit to live in society he is hanged or imprisoned, 
and when man became unfit to have fellowship with God 
he was driven from paradise. 

Physical death is the separation of the spiritual from 
the material. The body ceases to manifest the operations 
of the spirit within it, and we say it is dead. It at once 
becomes inert and subject only to the laws and properties 
universal in matter. When the spirit of God leaves the 
human spirit the man becomes subject in his actions to the 
laws and capabilities which inhere. in his personal spirit. 
No doubt he retained much of his intellectual vigor, but he 
lost that intuitive grasp of truth, possible to one in closest 
touch with an omniscient Spirit. Hereafter, reason ef- 
fected by a general lowering of powers and a necessary col- 
oring of truth, due to imperfect spiritual vision, must be his 
means of acquiring knowledge. He was no longer under 
the tuition of the Holy Spirit and hence would lose that 
sense of the eternal fitness of things, which would have 
sent a shock through his whole intellectual being when er- 
ror was presented to his mind. But he also lost that quick- 
ness of intercourse and perfect sympathy which exists be- 



IN THE BIBLE. 23 

tween kindred spirits when in harmony with one another. 
No longer could man rise in aspiration, even to the throne 
of God, borne up by impulse holy and divine; no longer 
could deep sympathy with God cause man's soul to vibrate 
in richest harmony with the pure and the good; no longer 
was it possible for kindred human spirits to appreciate fully 
each other's conception of the beautiful and sublime. Man 
was degraded and away from divine impulse. 

Physical Death. — Physical death was a necessary con- 
comitant of spiritual death. Had Adam retained his in- 
nocence in the presence of temptation he would have dev- 
eloped into that moral manhood which would have reduced 
to the minimum his liability to sin. His probation would 
have ended here, and the tree of life would have been his. 
We believe that in some way then, as Enoch or Elijah^ the 
mortal would have put on immortality without the dis- 
solution of the body. We can only conjecture how this 
would have been accomplished. The language of the Bi- 
ble clearly relates the physical death to the spiritual. 
Spiritual life was suspended on condition of obedience. 
Now, since the sentence which suspended divine fellow- 
ship on obedience incorporated a decree announcing the 
dissolution of the body, it is fair to infer that the immor- 
tality of the body was also conditioned on obedience. 

Death as we know it in the anim.al and vegetable king- 
doms does not differ essentially from human death. The 
life seen in the vital functions of plants and animals is iden- 
tical^ in so far as we can determine, to the life that produces 
the same efiPect in man. In both cases^ it is an abstraction 
from the operations of spirit in a certain kind of matter, 
generally called protoplasm. It was said of the daughter 
of Jairus, "Her spirit came again and she arose straight- 
way." That is, her spirit began again to operate in her 
body, which again began to manifest these operations 



24 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

No one ought to dogmatize on the future of the spirit 
of the plant or the spirit of the animal. The Bible is silent 
on it and science gives no clue to it. The Bible is explicit 
on the destiny of the human spirit. It can, however, be 
confidentially affirmed, that because the human spirit has 
an unending existence does not argue that the spirits of 
irrational creation exist forever. Among other endow- 
ments that the human spirit has, and which they do not 
have, may be this immortality. 

The fact that animals and plants died long before man 
was created indicates that their death is not a result of 
man's sin. Every living organism has a life history, and 
when this is run, dissolves by the laws of its own being. 
There is nothing to distinguish man as to his body from 
the rest of the living world. Thus his physical immortality 
must have resulted from such change in his organism as 
would have counteracted the laws of his body, or taken 
him out of the category of animate terrestial creation. 

Expulsion from the Garden. — The expulsion of Adam and 
Eve from the garden was an expulsion from the paradise 
of God's fellowship. To understand it we must study more 
critically the symbolism of the tree of life. It was symbol- 
ical of the fact that if the law was kept life would result. 
But Adam did not keep the law, and life in this way be- 
came impossible to him. The promise of the Saviour in 
Gen. 3:15 opens another way to man. Lest he deceive him- 
self by attempting a short cut to life, as he had taken a 
short cut to knowledge, God withdrew the symbolism con- 
necting with the law obedience and drove man out into a 
life of discipline. Even the ground was cursed that it might 
become a means to this end. Here begins God's education 
of mankind to bring them back to himself. The tree of 
life, therefore, disappears from the Bible narrative, and the 
cherubim are placed to keep the way to it, not to keep man 



IN THE BIBLE. 25 

from it, but to hold up to his view the way to it. When 
the history of this education closes with John on the Isle 
of Patmos^ the tree of life again appears and the student 
can look back over revelation and trace that way, as it 
winds through the discipline of labor_, trial, and the cross, 
up to the final victory in a '"right to the tree of life." The 
cherubim are placed to keep the way. Now, throughout 
Scripture, cherubim were related to God's gracious pres- 
ence. They symbolized this when placed over the mercy 
seat, and all the way through human history the cherubim- 
of God may be seen restraining, afflicting, blessing, and 
thus guiding man to the only way of life ODen to him. The 
flaming sword of justice meets with mercy. The symbol- 
ism was complete, and Adam, as we shall see later, rec- 
ognized the real significance of it and learned the lesson. 
Mercy appears in the curse on the serpent, the curse on 
the ground, and the expulsion from the garden. The dark 
cloud of human guilt gives such a somber color to this 
chapter that w^e often fail to catch the silver lining of di- 
vine love. 

The Way of Life. — By the service of Christ man may be 
made alive again, i. e., his spirit may bo united to God. 
Although the dissolution of the body worked itself out ac- 
cording to the laws of physical nature, yet the separation 
of man's spirit from God was immediate and complete. An 
eternity of sinlessness could not readjust his relation to 
God. All the righteousness of an eternal existence could 
not more than satisfy the demands of holiness for each 
moment of that existence. The old score would still stand 
against him. A holy God can make no concession which 
compromises his character. Man was helpless to 
change the relation into which he had brought himself, and 
God could not be true to himself and hold out the sceptre 
of mercy to him. Mercy appears in the scheme to satisfy 



26 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

infinite justice in the person of a substitute. It is thus 
apparent that the first movement toward reconciliation 
must be made by God. He does this in the promise of a 
Savior, in the 15th verse. Here again God respects man's 
free agency. He conditions the imputation of the benefits 
of Christ's redemptive work on the free will of man ac- 
cepting them. Adam was man's federal representative, 
and the whole race fell in him. He transmitted to his pos- 
terity a nature with an evil bias, which is itself sin inde- 
pendent of any activity. Christ becomes the federal head 
of all who believe in Him, and in this way the benefits of 
his atoning work become theirs. 

Corollary. — When man is made alive again through the 
service of Christ, he may expect to enjoy the advantages of 
Adam's primal relation to God. This we have seen to be 
intellectual as well as moral. His acquired and hereditary 
imperfection has, however, lowered his powers and lessen- 
ed his susceptibility to respond to the dictation of the Spir- 
it. But as God's providences and inspired truth educate 
him, his intellectual grasp grows stronger and his spir- 
itual vision keener. This does not imply that the Chris- 
tian who has never studied nature will understand her mys- 
teries better than a skeptical scientist. The skeptical scien- 
tist will be more liable to error than the Christian of the 
same culture. "If any man do his will he shall know of the 
doctrine," may be made to cover the whole range of human 
investigation. 

This may be illustrated by any department of human 
knowledge. Apart from a personal consciousness of the 
mercy of God in Christ Jesus, the profoundest philosopher 
is lost in a maze of contradictions, of power and weakness- 
es, of the noble and the degraded. The poet who does not 
discover the purpose of God in the plan of Redemption 
cannot understand the discordant elements of the human 



IN THE BIBLE. 27 

the soul, some high and worthy, others low and grovel- 
ing. He must either refuse to acknowledge tendencies as 
clear as the light of day, or make all to go out in the black- 
ness and midnight gloom of agnosticism. Nature will be 
an unmeaning riddle to the scientist who has not gotten 
this spiritual discernment. To him she is but a machine 
working out a fixed routine, without intelligent purpose, 
according to inexorable law which grinds into nothing the 
moth or man as fate decrees. Nothing higher, nothing more 
enduring than a brutish struggle in which the fittest sur- 
vive only, in turn, to fall before some other as ruthless and 
destructive. Man by his fall forfeited his right to the Spir- 
it's help, but the sovereign grace of God restores it in 
Christ. 



28 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

III. 
THE FLOOD. 



ANALYSIS OF CHAPTERS 4-9. 

I. Events leading up to the account of the flood, 
(i) Birth of Cain and Abel. Gen. 4:1-3. 

(2) The two sacrifices. 

(a) Their character. 

(b) Their reception. 

(r) The reason assigned. 

(3) Death of Abel. 4:8. 

(4) Cain's punishment. 4:9-15. 

(5) Cain^s descendants. 4:16-18. 

(6) Origin of civilized industries. 4:19-22. 

(7) Lamech's boast. 4:23-24. 

(8) Seth born. 4:25-26. 

(9) Generations of Adam. 5:1-32. 

(10) Cause of the Flood. 6:1-7. 

(11) Generations of Noah. 6:8-10. 

(12) Noah's commission. 6:11-22. 
II. The Flood. 

(i) Noah enters the ark. 7:1-16. 

(2) The earth covered with water. 7:17-20. 

(3) The destruction of life. 7:21-24. 
III. A new epoch introduced. 

(i) The waters subsided. 8:1-5. 

(2) Noah cautiously determines the condition of 

the earth. 8:6-12. 

(3) Noah leaves the ark. 8:13-19. 

(4) Sacrifice and promise. 8:20-22. 

(5) Noah blessed. 9 : 13. 

(6) The blood command. 9:4-7. 



IN THE BIBLE. 29 

(7) God's covenant with Noah. 9:8-17. 

(8) Noah overcome by temptation. 9:18-24. 

(9) His prophecy concerning his sons. 9:25-29. 

Epoch-Marking Events. — BibHcal history dwells longest 
on epoch-marking events. In this it does not differ from 
secular history. These are periods of transition. Old 
agencies and methods give place to others more in keep- 
ing with the environments of the time. Forces that have 
been at work for centuries,, it may be, have quietly evolved 
a political or religious tangle which cannot be resolved 
except by the breaking down of some long established in- 
stitutions. They attract the ordinary attention because 
they are periods of noisy demonstration, or at least of un- 
settled conviction. They are interesting from the historian's 
point of view in that they are culminating points towards 
which the different lines of activity focus. He can group 
around them the facts of history and study these facts in 
the light of their influence. The Flood is such an epoch- 
marking incident in the divine economy of Redemption. 
It marks a time when the forces of evil suffered a legitim- 
ate punishment and righteousness received the impulse of 
a purified moral atmosphere and enlarged knowledge of 
God. From this vantage ground it is possible to review 
intelligently the brief history recorded in Genesis 4-9. 

Origin of Sacrifice. — The origin of the sacrifice of Cain 
and Abel was surely a divine revelation. A natural im- 
pulse in the human heart cannot be a sufficient ground for 
the origin of biblical sacrifices. Heathen sacrifices are to 
idols which the worshipper feels to be very little purer than 
himself. Such a god might be appeased by an offering or 
his clamoring wrath satisfied by cruelties inflicted on the 
body. But the God whose presence brought conviction to 
Adam could not have been so held in the minds of Cain 
and Abel. 



30 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

The disposition to render a free-will offering to a bene- 
factor where terms of loving intimacy exist is natural to 
man; if estrangement has occurred a desire to appease with 
gifts is not foreign to human nature, provided no judicial 
attitude complicates the friend's relationship. Where an 
unbending justice and a spotless purity must be met an 
effort to appease is felt to be an attempt to buy favor, which 
under these conditions would be unavailing and insulting. 
Man, therefore, could never have offered to God the sac- 
rifice of a loving heart until he felt that reconciliation had 
been made. Since the only method of reconciliation tran- 
scends all human capability its symbolism must have been 
divinely given. It is not strange that the whole economy 
of sacrifice should be so perfectly adapted to the nature of 
man and that a crude counterfeit of it should be found in 
all heathen tribes. God's point and purpose in it was to 
educate man, and his methods are all infinitely wise. 
But we will defer a fuller discussion of this point until 
we study the institution of the Mosaic economy of sacri- 
fice. 

The Sacrifice of Cain and Abel. — We have in this nar- 
rative the first mention of sacrifice, but evidently not the 
first instance of it. It is introduced here preparatory to the 
account of Abel's violent death. Its purpose, therefore, is 
not to teach us anything directly about the origin or prac- 
tice of sacrifice, and yet it is a valuable sidelight. 

The inference is a fair one that Adam, and in all proba- 
bility, Cain and Abel were accustomed to present sacrifices 
to God. This one is called minchah, which means gift. It 
seems to have its counterpart in the "'meal offering" of the 
Mosaic economy. It was an expression of gratitude to 
God for his blessings and a longing for fellowship with 
him. In this sense it was not piacular. But the idea of 
reconciliation through expiation is a necessary background 



IN THE BIBLE. 31 

to all friendly approach to God. The promise of a Saviour 
had been given. The promise may have been emphasized 
before this by the symbolism of the sin ofifering, or it may 
have taken such deep hold on the conscience as to need no 
such agency to impress it. Either theory will justify this 
friendly approach of man to God. 

Abers sacrifice was accepted and Cain's rejected not be- 
cause the one was an animal and the other the fruit of 
the field, but because the offerer was accepted in one case 
and not in the other. *'By faith Abel offered unto God a 
more excellent sacrifice than Cain." — Heb. 11:4. God's 
method is to accept first the offerer^ than the offering. 

The spirit of the worshipper determines the acceptance 
or rejection of every sacrifice, and has always done so. It 
would seem from the account that the proper sacrifice 
for Cain at this time would have been the sin offering. 
When reasoning with him God said to Cain: 'Tf thou doest 
not well/'' i. e., if your life is not right with God ''sin" i. e., 
the sin offering ''coucheth at the door," or is ready at 
hand. This meaning of "sin" is found elsewhere in scrip- 
ture. ''They eat up the sin of my people, and they set 
their heart on their iniquity.'" Hos. 4:8. ''For he hath 
made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might 
be made the righteousness of God in him." 2 Cor. 5:21. 
The faith to which reference is made in Heb. 11:4, does 
not relate to a specific case so much as to a general at- 
titude. It is a striking illustration of an attempt to render 
acceptable service or worship to God, without first renoun- 
cing a wicked life. It is said "the Lord had respect unto 
Abel and to his offering." This literally means to look at 
with great earnestness, and suggests at least, that the look 
kindled a fire to consume the offering. Cain, therefore, 
may have had direct evidence of his rejection. "But unto 
Cain and to his offering he had not respect." 



32 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

There was nothing of the sense of love and gratitude 
and devotion which comes to the soul through a conscious- 
ness of the divine favor. We have, in God's earnest appeal 
to Cain, the first explicit statement of the truth that con- 
tinuance in sin is not a necessity. God reasons with Cain 
and directs him to the way out of sin. 

The Moral Effect of Cain's Sense of Alienation from God, — 
When Cain felt himself rejected and saw his brother ac- 
cepted the first movement of his soul would be resentment 
to God, then to his brother. His feeling had scarcely set- 
tled into implacable hate, even at the time of the murder 
Hatred, personal interest, and jealousy are more perma- 
nent sentiments than pique, but less liable to precipitate un- 
premediated rashness. There must have been a growing 
sentiment in Cain's mind that he was losing the advantage 
of priority of birth, as Abel was gaining favor with God; 
for in 4 : 7 God assures him that if he do well he shall not 
lose his advantage : "Unto thee shall be his (Abel's) desire 
and thou shalt rule over him." Personal interest and jeal- 
ousy were stimulated into action by chagrin over his unac- 
ceptd sacrifice. No one can defend Cain's conduct, yet there 
are many palliating considerations when we set it over 
against some crimes of this age. Cain may not have known 
the effect his blow was likely to produce for he had no ex- 
ample of physical death. He did not have what we call 
modern culture to enable him to conceal his feelings, and 
no fear of civil law put its restraining influence on his im- 
pulses. The record of this dark deed is important to bib- 
lical history because it reveals how quickly and how deep- 
ly sin works itself into the moral life, and because, — 

Cain and Abel are Representative Characters. — Adam and 
Eve doubtless had other children, but Abel stood for what 
was mediative and devout and Cain for God-defying, self- 
ish restlessness. The impress of a strong positive life 



IN THE BIBLE. 33 

whether it be good or bad is always felt in society. In 
this early family where were instituted the two classes that 
have distinguished mankind ever since, Cain and Abel 
were, the dominant spirits. Around these two would group 
all the children of Adam as their individual characteristics 
and susceptibility to divine impression would indicate. 
Abel, therefore, was no ordinary man but the recognized 
leader of those who feared God. With his death goodness 
received a shock. Eve realized this and when another son 
was born, she called his name Seth. ''For God/' she said, 
"hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel whom 
Cain slew." 

Cain and Seth. — God said to the serpent : "I will put 
enmity between thee and the woman, between thy seed and 
her seed." Gen. 3:15. We have here (i) a personal 
enmity between the woman and Satan, indicating that she 
accepted the mediation of a Redeemer and escaped the 
sentence of death, and ( 2 ) a general enmity between her 
seed and the seed of Satan. The meaning of the expres- 
sion ''thy seed" appears in John 8 144. "Ye are of your 
father the devil and the lusts of your father, it is your will 
to do." I John 3:8, "He that committeth sin is of the 
devil for the devil sinneth from the beginning." Now, Eve 
was the natural mother of the whole race, and when she 
said of Seth, "another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain 
slew," she must have counted herself the mother of the 
righteous in a spiritual sense. Adam bore testimony to 
the same fact, when with the sentence of death still ringing 
in his ears he changed the name of his wife. "And Adam 
called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother 
of all living." Gen. 3:20. At this point the Bible takes 
up the lines of descent from Cain and Seth. When the hu- 
man race was fairly started the record leaves the Cainites 
and turns to the Sethites. These two classes would em- 



34 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

brace all mankind, the one active, strong, aggressive and 
determined, the other meditative and devout. The Cain- 
ites would develop rapidly those arts, and graces which 
please the eye and satisfy the aesthetic nature. It is easy 
to predict the result when the Sethites or "Sons of God" 
began to intermarry with the Cainites or "daughters of 
men/' Gen. 6:i. 

History has proven over and over again that old cus- 
toms and modes of life, although backed by a church 
which considers them peculiarly adapted to the cultivation 
of spirituality, cannot resist the innovations of advancing 
civilization, and it is not strange that the Sethites should 
lose in this struggle until Noah and his family alone were 
left. 

The Influence of the Spirit. — "And the Lord said, "My 
Spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is 
flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years." 
The divine agency was potent, at least to a degree, in re- 
straining the wickedness of man. The span ot human life, 
then on the earth, was limited to one hundred and twenty 
years. Time and opportunity for repentance was there- 
fore given to the inhabitants of the earth. But the ques- 
tion naturally rises, why was not the Spirit^s influence as 
effectual then as now? Apart from God's help the con- 
flict between the world and the true religion could have 
but one issue. Some hold that the three persons of the 
Godhead have had periods of special activity. God the 
Father educating the race by his providences and his laws 
until in the fulness of time God the Son came in the flesh 
who having finished his work here introduced God the 
Holy Spirit in whose dispensation we now live. There is 
no reason to doubt the correctness of this view, if it is 
understood that during these times of special activity of 
one person of the Trinity, the others still bear a relation 



IN THE BIBLE. 35 

to human affairs. It may not be competent to show just 
why the Hmits of the periods are just where they are, but 
the educative influence of each may be traced. However, 
it may safely be said that there is a manifest difference be- 
tween the Spirit's operation in the Old Dispensation and 
the New. In the Old Testament times he worked through 
the outward providences of God, both ordinary and ex- 
traordinary, to bring man to conviction of sin and faith 
in God. He was related to increase in knowledge as the 
divine providences appealed to the intellect and the heart. 

The same operation of the Spirit to-day brings men to 
confess Christ, and to strive to render obedience to the 
truth. But the history of God's relation to man is now so 
full that the believer may experience a different operation 
of the Spirit. He may become an indwelling and inwork- 
ing power leading to fuller devotion, freer fellowship, more 
perfect obedience, and at the same time reveal the deeper 
mysteries of biblical truth. 

The Building of the Ark. — In Gen. 6:6, we read^ 'Tt re- 
pented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it 
grieved him at his heart.'"* 

God is here described as about to change his visible pro- 
cedure toward mankind. His course heretofore had been 
one of unbroken mercy. Under this administration man 
had gone to the last extreme of wickedness, and stern 
justice was now to be the divine program. God did not 
change. He cannot change. Mai. 3:6; James 1:17. 
Neither was he disappointed in man. The language used 
here is such as will best express this purpose of God to 
change his visible method to preserve faith on the earth. 

No criticism can be candidly urged against the severity 
of the judgment which destroyed the whole race except 
Noah and his family. Noah is spoken of as a preacher 
of righteousness. His life while he was building the ark 



36 PROaRESSIVE STUDIES 

was a daily object lesson to the world. These years were 
the "long suffering of God." If goodness was to have a 
chance at all it must be under changed conditions. Man 
had forfeited all right to life. He was persistently spum- 
ing the Spirit's help, and threatening to thwart the fulfill- 
ment of God's promise to Adam. Strict justice, there- 
fore, became the work of mercy. 

The Locality of the Flood. — The Biblical narrative does 
not necessitate the belief that the flood was universal; but 
it surely covered the part of the earth then inhabited by 
man. The Hebrew word for earth and for land or district 
is the same. Gen. 12: i reads: "Now the Lord said unto 
Abram, get thee out of thy country and from thy kindred 
and from thy father's house unto a land that I will show 
thee." In this place the context clearly indicates that the 
word here translated land and country does not refer to the 
whole earth. The flood was purely ethical in purpose, 
and the assumption that it prevailed over continents not 
yet inhabited by the human race is not at all necessary. 

The Blood Command. — "Whoso sheddeth man's blood 
by man shall his blood be shed" was prima facie evidence 
to Noah that God did not esteem human life lightly. But 
it was important from another point of view. It was the 
introduction of a new principle which served as a reagent 
to precipitate into national organization the elements of 
civil polity heretofore in solution in man's nature. The 
arts and the industries of the world had been developed and 
with them, as a necessary concomitant, the intellectual 
power to cope with nature. We have no hint that before 
the flood man was governed by anything other than his 
own impulse. Lamech's boast would indicate that the 
matter of life and death rested solely on strength and skill. 
But after the flood all that Noah knew of nature and so- 
ciety became the heritage of the race. When Adam sinned 



IN THE BIBLE. 37 

he came into an experimental knowledge of good and evil. 
What that evil would do for the race as it worked itself 
deeper and deeper into the fabric of society, setting man 
at variance to man and inducing all the weaknesses and 
miseries and disappointments incident to human life could 
be known only as complexity of interest developed. With 
this perspective the advantage of civil law at once ap- 
pears. The race was prepared in Noah to receive and 
adopt the reforms introduced by the flood. 

The Flood and Natural Law. — It is a little hard to realize 
even in this day that the ills of life are traceable to sin and 
not to a fixed routine. In the centuries before the flood 
the systematic regularity of the phenomena of nature 
would be misunderstood and their ethical significance be 
lost. But the flood would teach God's relation to nature. 
It would demonstrate that he who controls the latent forces 
and unknown possibilities of the universe will make them 
subserve the purpose of his will. The welcome life-giv- 
ing, life-sustaining agencies are his blessing on man; but 
these will become destructive when the moral progress of 
man may be furthered by judgment. The purely material 
covenant God made with Noah was religious in its im- 
port. Its influence was to prompt him to recognize a lov- 
ing hand in all the beneficient provisions for his temporal 
wants. Only that faith is living and strong which re- 
ceives the gifts of daily life as thoughtful expressions of 
the love of God. 

Noah's Prophecy, — Centuries elapsed before the fulfill- 
ment of Noah's prophecy concerning his sons. For a long 
time the Hamitic nations were the leaders of the world in 
all those arts which make for peace or war. The curse 
rested on the Hamitic races. Canaan is mentioned es- 
pecially because Noah's perspective was the divine econ- 
omy in reference to the Hebrew nation. The Canaanites 



38 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

were of peculiar interest from this point of view. Such 
conception of it relieves the prophecy of any suspicion that 
it was the outburst of an angry man. Canaan has felt the 
curse; Japheth has beerj enlarged, and his humanitarian 
culture has found its sure resting place in the tents of 
Shem. The Shemites abandoned them nineteen hundred 
years ago. Herein is the progressive movement of his- 
tory to an end. Herein may be seen the working of the 
divine hand as the pages of God's far-reaching plan are 
turned for us. No backward step but a steady progress 
toward a grand culmination in the "new heavens and a new 
earth wherein dwelleth righteousness." 2 Pet. 3:13. Ad- 
vanced culture is bringing all the elements of human na- 
ture represented by these three men into their proper re- 
lation. Shemitic meditation, Japhetic activity, and Hami- 
tic self-surrender,, when vitalized by faith in Christ, give to 
the world the aggressive and devout missionary Christiani- 
ty of this century. 



IN THE BIBLE. 39 



IV. 

THE PATRIARCHAL PERIOD. 



God adapts his teaching to the conditions of the age. 
He is unchangeable, but man changeth; therefore, God 
changes his method from time to time. The method 
adapted to the ante-diluvian period was not the one most 
conducive to human interest after the flood. The Patriar- 
chial epoch introduces a new method or rather the old meth" 
od is modified to suit the times. With Abraham begins the 
special and extraordinary process of isolation to the end 
that the worship of Jehovah might be preserved. The isola- 
tion was not arbitrary. Human capacity and co-operation 
w^ere always required. At no time were the barriers of God 
against those who sought to worship him in spirit and in 
truth. Abraham willingly accepted the isolation, and his 
descendants willingly maintain it to this day. God was 
not partial in his election of Abraham to this mission. He 
kept his people from commerce with no nation except 
where the cause of purity of worship would have been 
jeopardized by such commerce. BeHef in God and devo- 
tion to his law was a passport that would admit any one to 
the privileges of his peculiar people. Isolation was for de- 
fense. It began with Abraham and was continued until 
the coming of Christ. The period of Bible history on 
which we now enter is preparatory to the national life of 
the Hebrews. It introduces many interesting topics for 
study, which we will take up in order. 



PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 



ORIGIN OF NATIONS. 

ANALYSIS OF CHAPTERS 10-11. 

I. The sons of Japheth. Gen. lo: 1-5. 

11. The sons of Ham. Gen. 10: 6-20. 

III. The sons of Shem. Gen. 10: 21-32. 

IV. The confusion of tongues. 

(i) One language. Gen. 11 :i. 

(2) Building the tower. Gen. 11: 2-4. 

(3) The judgment of God. Gen. 11: 5-9. 
V. The generations of Shem. Gen. 11 : 10-26. 

VI. The generations of Terah. Gen. 11 : 27-30. 
VII. The migration of Terah. Gen. 11 : 31-32. 



Gomer, 
Magog, 
Madai, 
Japheth, ^ Javan, 
Tubal, 
Meshech, 
, Tiras. 



Ham, 



Gush, 
Mizraim, 
Phut, 
Canaan. 
Elam, 
Shem, } Asshur, 

Arphaxad. 

The Japhetic Nations."^ — The seven families, mentioned 
in Genesis 10, were the sons of Japheth, who became the 
ancestors of nations. He may have had other sons whose 
lives were not of particular historic importance. 

I. Gomer is named in Ezek. 38: 2-6 as a race opposed 
to Israel after the captivity. A branch of this race moving 
westward became the Cimbri, who were the formidable 
enemies of Rome. Another branch, the Cimbry, settled 
in the British Isles and were the ancestors of the Welsh 
and Irish. The Celtic races are descended from this fam- 
ily. 



* This account of the origin of races and the settlements of the descendants 
of Noah is substantially the same as given by Rev. J. 1,. Hurlbut, D.D., in his 
Manual of Biblical Geography. 



IN THE BIBLE. 41 

2. Magog (the Gog of Ezek. 27:14; 38:6) is generally 
understood to designate the Scythians who expelled the 
Gomerites, or Cimmerians, from the lands northwest of the 
Caspian Sea and became the ancestors of the Slavic, or 
Sclavonic races, of which Russia is the greatest represen- 
tative. 

3. Madai is everywhere in Scripture the word trans- 
lated Medes, whose early home was south of the Caspian 
Sea whence they marched westward and conquered the 
lands as far as the Mediterranean. 

4. Javen is the Hebrew term for the Greeks, as is in- 
dicated by the various references in the Old Testament. 
It is especially applied to the lonians, who were the Gre- 
cian people with whom the Israelites were brought into 
commercial relations. 

5. Tubal, and 6 Meshech, are generally associated in 
Scripture (Ezek. 27: 13; 32:26; 38: 2, 3; 39: i.) They are 
not identified with certainty. 

6. Tiras (i Chron. i : 5) was believed by the Jews to 
refer to the Thracians^ southwest of the Black Sea. There 
is nothing to oppose this view, but no evidence except simi- 
larity of name in its favor. 

The Hamitic Races. — These are named with greater par- 
ticularity, because they were those which arose to promi- 
nence early in the history and those with which the He- 
brews were brought into closer relations, either as enemies 
or friends. 

1. Cush is throughout the Bible the word translated 
Ethiopia. Generally this refers to the region south of 
Egypt, known as Abyssinia; but in Gen. 2:13, Isa. ii:ii. 
and Ezek. 38:5, the reference must be to an Asiatic Cush, 
or Ethiopia near the Persian Gulf. 

2. Mizraim is the name everywhere used for Egypt in 
the Hebrew. 



42 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

3. Phut is several times translated Libya, and from its 
association with other tribes should probably be referred 
to that section in North Africa. 

4. Canaan, the ancient inhabitants of Palestine and 
lower Syria from Gaza to Hamath. In their most flourish- 
ing period, just before the conquest of Joshua, they em- 
braced six subdivisions or clans. 

The Semitic Races. — Shem was the ancestor of five great 
races. 

1. Elam, everywhere recognized as the name of a pro- 
vince east of the Tigris and near the Persian Gulf, called 
by the Greeks Elymais. 

2. Asshur was located on both sides of the Tigris^ hav- 
ing Nineveh as its capital. 

3. Arphaxad has been supposed to be the ancestor of 
the Chaldeans, whose home was south of the Euphrates 
and near the Persian Gulf; but the identification is some- 
what uncertain. Abraham belonged to this race, and was 
born in 'TJr of the Chaldees." 

4. Lud is generally believed to refer to the Lydians 
who became a powerful nation under Croesus. 

5. Aram is the word rendered Syria throughout the 
Bible. The Arameans, or Syrians, occupied the region be- 
tween Canaan and Phoenicia on the east, the Euphrates on 
the north, and the great desert on the west and south. 

Of these nations Magog, Madai, Cush, Mizraim, Ca- 
naan, Asshur and Aram are most intimately related to the 
history of the Hebrew nation and hence most frequently 
mentioned in the Old Testament. 

The Confusion of Tongues. — The building of the tower 
of Babel introduced no new principle into the divine econ- 
omy, neither did it advance any to a higher importance. 
There was nothing wrong, per se, in the building of the 



IN THE BIBLE. 43 

tower, and yet it was made the occasion of a judgment far- 
reaching in its effects. The motive must have been wrong 
This appears on the surface of the narrative, but wherein 
the wrong lay is not so plain. 

The new principle of social organization, embodied in 
the blood command given to Noah, was being pushed to 
the farthest extreme. The building of the tower of Babel 
was an attempt to establish a vast political organization 
that would be self-sufficient. They evidently thought they 
could perfect social machinery until they could defy the 
justice of God and escape the punishment an awakened 
conscience always feels to be imminent. The truth, any 
people may receive from their ancestors is soon lost in so 
far as it has an influence to conserve virtue, unless it be ac- 
companied by supernatural influence. It may linger in 
the minds of succeeding generations and be a motive to 
action, but not to reform. So it was with the descendants 
of Noah. The moral influence of the flood was lost, but 
the knowledge of God's purpose to punish sin was not. 
Rather than abandon evil practices they preferred to take 
their chances in an effort to defeat God. They had much 
yet to learn. Tlie same false theories prompt men to-day 
to trust the regeneration of society to human institutiocis 
or plausible nationalism. The divine method is regenera- 
tion through a Savior, and finite wisdom cannot devise a 
substitute for it. This gives a religious character to their 
project — not the religion of heaven but a man-made reli- 
gion. The world must have sunk into pre-diluvian wick- 
-edness before such an enterprise could have enlisted al- 
most universal sympathy and co-operation. It was a gi- 
gantic undertaking from a human point of view, but the 
puny effort and boastful spirit called for the divine irony. 
'''He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh; the Lord shall 



44 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

have them in derision." Ps. 2:4. No great flood was 
necessary to thwart their wild scheme. 

ABRAHAM AND MONOTHEISM. 

ANALYSIS OF CHAPTERS 12-25. 

I. Abraham called. Gen. 12: 1-3. 
n. His response. Gen. 12: 4-5. 

III. Promise of the land. Gen. 12: 6-7. 

IV. Abraham^s wandering^s. 

(i) Near Bethel. Gen. 12:8-9. 

(2) Into Eg3'pt. Gen. 12: 10-20. 
(i) Cause. 12 : 10. 

(2) Denies his wife. 12: 11-13. 

(3) Rebuked of Pharaoh. 12: 14-20.- 

(3) Leaves Egypt. Gen. 13:1-4. 

V. Abraham and Lot separate. Gen. 13: 5"^3- 
VI. The promise renewed. Gen. 13: 14-18. 
VII. War among the nations. Gen. 14: i-io. 
VIII. Lot taken. Gen. 14: 11-12. 

IX. Abraham rescues Lot. Gen. 14: 13-16. 
X. Meeting with Melchizedek. Gen. 14: 17-20. 
XL Abraham refuses to receive pay. Gen. 14: 
21-24. 
XII. God's covenant with Abraham. Gen. 15: 1-21. 
(i) Promise of an heir and numerous seed.. 
15: 1-6. 
(2) Promise confirmed. 15: 7-21. 
XIII. Hagar flees from Sarah. Gen. 16: 1-16. 
(i) Sarah's envy. 16: 1-6. 
(2) An angel encourages Hagar to return.. 
16:7-9. 

(3) Promise to Hagar. 16: 10-14. 

(4) Ishmael born. 16: 15-16. 



IN THE BIBLE. 



45 



XIV. The covenant renewed. Gen. 17: 1-22. 

XV. Rite of circumcision instituted. Gen. 17; 

23-27. 
XVI. Destruction of Sodom. Gen. 18: 1-33; 19: 1-38 
(i) Angels visit Abraham. 18: 1-15. 

(2) They reveal the fate of Sodom. 18 
16-22. 

(3) Abraham intercedes for Sodom. 18 

23-33- 

(4) Lot entertains the angels. 19: 1-3. 

(5) Criminal conduct of the men of the city 
19: 4-1 1. 

(6) Lot's friends urged to leave Sodom 
19: 12-14. 

(7) Lot flees to Zoar. 19: 15-23. * 

(8) Sodom destroyed. 19: 24-28. 

(9) Moab and Benammi born. 19: 29-38. 
XVII. Abraham again denies his wife. Gen. 20: 1-18 

XVIII. Isaac born. Gen. 21 : 1-8. 

XIX. Hagar and Ishmael banished. Gen. 21: 9-21. 
XX. Covenant between Abraham and Abimelech 
Gen. 21 : 22-34. 
XXI. Abraham offers Isaac. Gen. 22: 1-19. 
(i) The command. 22:1-10. 

(2) A substitute provided. 22: 11-14. 

(3) Abraham blessed. 2.2: 15-19. 
XXII. The generations of Nahor. Gen. 22 : 20-24. 

XXIII. Death of Sarah. Gen. 23: 1-20. 

(i) Her death. 22^: 1-2. 

(2) Abraham purchases a burying place, 
23: 3-18. 

(3) Sarah buried in the field of Machpelah, 
23: 19-20. 

XXIV. Isaac^s marriage. Gen. 24: 1-67. 



46 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

(i) Abraham sends his servant to the city 
of Nahor. 24: 1-14. 

(2) Meets Rebekah. 24:15-28. 

(3) The servant entertained. 24: 29-32. 

(4) Tells his errand. 24: 33-49. 

(5) Rebekah's choice. 24: 50-60. 

(6) Meets Isaac. 24: 61-67. 
XXV. Abraham's second marriage. Gen. 25: i. 

XXVI. The descendants of Abraham by Keturah. 
Gen. 25 : 2-4. 
XXVII. Abraham's death. Gen. 25: 5-1 1. 
XXVIII. The generations of Ishmael and Isaac. Gen. 
25: 12-26. 

The Fundamental Principle of the Hebrezv Nation. — The 
long biography presented in the above analysis is given a 
place in the biblical record because the principle for which 
Abraham's life stands is important. Faith in an unseen 
God as the cardinal point in the true religion becomes the 
fundamental principle of the Hebrew nation. Toward the 
development of this faith all lines of providential dispensa- 
tion are made to focus. This was the purpose of God in 
the nation. Abraham, the "Father of the Faithful/' trans- 
mitted to it the stamp of intellectual and spiritual predispo- 
sition to faith and meditation. 

We have called attention to the fact that idolatry is the 
natural religion of sinful man. There is nothing in the 
religion of idols to help man to a spiritual culture. It is 
not strange that with the rapid advance in the arts that 
conduce to material wealth, there should be pari passu 
decline in the faith that takes hold on God. If civilization 
be considered to be simply the development of the material 
and mental resources of a country, then a very high state 
of civilization may co-exist with the grossest morals. The 
preservation of spiritual monotheism was essential to the 



IN THE BIBLE. 47 

cultivation of true morality. A very moral man who de- 
nies the very existence of God is sometimes found in a 
Christian community, but his morality is none the less an 
outgrowth of faith in God. It was Christianity that made 
morality respectable, and surrounded the man with condi- 
tions favorable to the development of his moral nature. 
Faith not only created the moral sentiment of modern ci- 
vilization^ but is the only effective instrumentality in its 
preservation. Take it out of society altogether^ and might 
will soon constitute right. Any civilization, therefore, that 
leaves the education of faith out of its effort is not ade- 
quate to serve the highest interests of man. The disper- 
sion at the tower of Babel stimulated co-operative devel- 
opment and national organization. In this way it was a 
movement toward Hebrew isolation which began in the 
call of Abraham. 

The Call of Abraham. — The separation of Abraham and 
his family and God's special care over them w^ere in no 
sense a narrowing of the policy of God. It still embraced 
the whole human family. To preserve the benefits of true 
worship and to transmit them to the ages was the motive 
in the change of method. Man's free agency must be re- 
spected and the nations of the earth must be blessed. 

Josephus says the untimely death of his son Haran 
prompted Terah to leave Ur, and he as chief led his fam- 
ily with him, Jewish tradition says Abraham received the 
call before he left Ur and this call was the prompting mo- 
tive in the migration of the family. Stephen must have 
held to this idea for in Acts 7 : 2 he says : 'The God of 
glory appeared unto our father Abraham when he was in 
Mesopotamia before he dwelt in Charan." In Gen. 11:31, 
it seems as if Terah was the moving spirit in the migration. 
The revised version drops the auxiliary "had" in Gen. 12: 
I and renders it "The Lord said." We cannot determine 



48 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

just when the call came to Abraham, but the strong pro- 
bability is that it was while he was yet in Mesopo- 
tamia, and that the ties of nature hindered the full response 
to it until after the death of Terah. The disposition to 
take a lower ground than that to which God calls us is per- 
fectly human. He calls his people to-day to a full and free 
fellowship with himself, and yet they are often willing to 
take their stand on a lower plane if thereby they may not 
feel themselves obliged to give up a life they love. 

Opinions are divergent as to the nature of the call. It 
may have been a deep settled conviction of duty pressed 
home to the conscience by the influence of the Spirit, di- 
recting attention to the revolting practices of heathen wor- 
ship in which his family were participants (Josh. 24: 2). In 
this case the call would be a development from a mere 
suggestion to a fixed purpose and would probably require 
years to mature into action. It may have been a super- 
natural and unmistakable revelation of the divine will ac- 
companied with such manifestation of God's presence as 
would impress Abraham with the greatness and wisdom 
of God. Stephen seems to favor this idea when he says: 
'The God of glory appeared, etc." The first theory is in 
harmony with God's ordinary method of revealing his will 
to his people in all ages of the world, and the second the- 
ory is not out of harmony with many special and direct 
revelations in Old Testament times. The purpose in ad- 
mitting the account to the biblical narrative is met by 
either theory. 

Abraham's Faith. — The migration of Abraham is of in- 
terest either from a national or a spiritual point of view. 
Nationally it is more than other great migrations of his- 
tory, because the Hebrew nation had a higher mission than 
any nation of antiquity. Spiritually it is the first movement 
of God toward the establishment of a church. The whole 



IN THE BIBLE. 49 

trend of human progress had been in the Une of material 
civiHzation. This is inadequate to hold men to the good 
and true. Faith now became the one essential of prog- 
ress. The principle was not new, but it acquired a new 
importance at this time in that it was made the funda- 
mental principle of national life. The providences of God 
were speciallly adapted to develop faith in Abraham. We 
shall consider a few of them. 

1. The Migration. This movement presupposes faith 
in God. The demand on faith was not without reason. 
The promise of blessing and that he was to become the 
father of a great nation were sufficient guarantee to his 
faith. The greater trial at this time would be to break 
with idol worship. It requires more courage to stand up 
as a silent rebuke to prevailing social or religious custom 
than it does to take an odd course in regard to the busi- 
ness affairs of life. It is exceedingly rare for any one to 
emancipate himself from prevailing dogma. In Abraham 
it was evidence of lofty sublimity of character. 

2. His Journey to Egypt. Faith develops as knowl- 
edge of God increases. Egypt was at this time in advance 
of other nations in mental and ethical culture. They be- 
lieved in a judgment after death which proceeded on a se- 
vere moral code. No murderer nor thief nor hypocrite nor 
liar could enter the Egyptian heaven. The severe famine 
would teach Abraham that his covenant with God did not 
relieve him from the hardships of life. God's purpose was 
development, not ease. His moral bluntness appears at 
this time in his course of falsehood. He seems to have 
taken this course without any question of conscience. 
God's interposition to rescue Sarah from an Egyptian 
harem and the rebuke of the king would teach him some- 
thing of the esteem in which truth ought to be held, and 



50 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

that God does not need the help of shrewd and evil plans 
to enable him to carry out his purposes. 

3. The Covenant. Space does not permit us to take 
up in detail each event in the life of this patriarch. God's 
extraordinary revelation of himself was only occasional. 
They are brought close together in the biography but 
years intervened between them. There are seven upward 
steps in the covenant promises. Gen. 12: 1-3. (a) "I will 
make of thee a great nation/' (b) 'T will bless thee," (c) 
"make thy name great," (d) ''and thou shalt be a bless- 
ing," (e) "I will bless them that bless thee and curse him 
that curseth thee," (g) '"and in thee shall all famihes of the 
earth be blessed." The covenant has two special phases, 
temporal and spiritual. The one relates to his family and 
the other to the world. The history which begins with 
this covenant continues unbroken until the utter destruc- 
tion of the Jewish nation. The covenant made with Noah 
included all mankind, that made with Abraham counted 
him as the ancestor of a holy people. All who desired 
could avail themselves of its benefits through adoption in- 
to the Abrahamic family. 

4. Abraham's Great Sacrifice. A fundamental law of 
spiritual progress in our present state is antagonism be- 
tween personal interest and the commands of God. Now 
God's requirements of Abraham heretofore were accom- 
panied with reasonable prospect of personal gain. But 
the command to sacrifice Isaac had nothing of this ele- 
ment in it. For this and many other reasons the test of 
faith was a most severe one. Many interesting questions 
attach to this event. We can scarcely think that God com- 
manded Abraham to do a deed essentially wrong, as the 
murder of his son would have been, simply to make him 
an example of faith to the world or to develop his own 
faith. Neither is it enough to say that the purpose was to 



IN THE BIBLE. 51 

present typically the sacrifice of Christ. It serves 
all these purposes, but it must have had some sym- 
bolical significance of present application to Abra- 
ham and his seed. The roots of the law against the 
shedding of human blood are in the character of God, and 
God could not deny himself by commanding the death of 
an innocent boy at the hands of his father. We must look 
below the surface to discover the divine thought in it. 

The probability is that Abraham did not think human 
sacrifice wrong. The nation in which he had spent the 
first seventy-five years of his life is believed to have prac- 
ticed it, and he would come in contact with it in some of 
the nations of Canaan. Human sacrifice is the culminat- 
ing point in man-made reHgions. It was considered the 
highest mark of devotion. This can scarcely seem strange 
since the sentiment is so nearly universal to-day that the 
costlier a service the more pleasing to God. Isaac was the 
child of promise and Abraham loved him dearly. Now it 
is reasonable to infer that Abraham's own conscience was 
suggesting this very sacrifice to him. The greater his love 
for God and the greater his love for his son the more con- 
stantly would the matter disturb him. A duty we feel we 
owe to another and yet, for any reason, hesitate or refuse 
to perform it, erects a barrier to closest fellowships 
If Abraham felt he owed this duty to his God and was al- 
lowing his love for Isaac to hold him back from perform- 
ing it, his communication with God could not be free and 
unrestrained. To remove this difficulty and at the same 
time teach him a much-needed lesson, God comes down in 
his command to Abraham's plane. He commands him to 
do just what his conscience indicated he ought to do. God's 
command was therefore relative, not absolute. It cannot 
be understood apart from this relation to Abraham's men- 
tal state. With the specific command Abraham did not 



52 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

falter in the sublime faith that God would be true to his 
promise. God interposed at the last moment and pro- 
vided a substitute. Abraham's heart would be full of joy- 
as he went down the mountain because he had his son with 
him and because his friendship with God was no longer 
constrained in its exercise. The sacrifice was complete 
and Abraham learned the true import of it. The religion 
of Jehovah was distinctively separated from the religions 
of nature in that the seal of divine disapproval was forever 
placed on human sacrifice. 

These divine object lessons are very wide in their appli- 
cation. While it must have taught Abraham all we have 
enumerated it gave to the Jewish church a clear symbol 
of substitution, — the clearest it had yet had. The lamb 
provided by God himself suffered, and Isaac was free. 
Who can say that this event did not enable Abraham to 
see, with eyes that penetrated the mists of twenty centuries, 
the culmination of God's plan of Redemption in the sac- 
rifice of his son? It cannot be surprising that such a man 
should transmit to his children a predisposition to pure 
worship. In after years this spiritual bias is often so cov- 
ered up with worldliness that only careful examination can 
discover it, yet it was there. At no time was God without 
a ''Remnant" which worshipped him in purity. The Greek 
might develop art and philosophy,, the Roman political or- 
ganization, but it was left to the Jew to conserve the faith 
in the living God of which Abraham was made the cus- 
todian. In the higher development of these principles a 
truest harmony is found. The aesthetic and the philoso- 
phic opens the soul to an influx of God, which works itself 
out in an organized effort to reach the whole world with 
an uplifting, ennobling, soul-satisfying and life-redeeming 
faith. 



IN THE BIBLE. 53 

ISAAC AND HIS FAMILY. 
The significance of Abraham's life so far as it relates to 
the Hebrew nation ends with the marriage of Isaac. Only 
a few incidents in the life of Isaac are recorded. The in- 
spired writer does not give us biography simply to acquaint 
us with the man. His purpose is higher. He narrates 
those events that have an independent bearing on the de- 
velopment of the divine purpose of grace. The same may 
be said of all biblical history, and this fidelity to purpose 
persists in the New Te'tsament writers. 

ANALYSIS OF CHAPTERS 25:27-27:40. 

I. Early life of Esau and Jacob. 25: 27-34. 
II. The Abrahamic covenant reaffirmed to Isaac. Gen. 
26: 1-5. 
(i) The occasion. 26:1-2. 

(2) The covenant rehearsed. 26: 3-4. 

(3) Reason assigned. 26: 5. 

III. Isaac denies his wife. Gen. 26: 6-1 1. 

IV. Isaac^s life in Gerar. Gen. 26: 12-22. 

(i) His prosperity. 26: 12-15. 

(2) Abimelech^s jealousy. 26: 16. 

(3) Isaac removes into the valley of Gerar. 26: 
17-19. 

(4) Strife between the herdmen of Isaac and the 
herdman of Abimelech. 26: 20-22. 

V. Isaac goes to Beer-sheba, where God renews the 
covenant with him. Gen. 26: 2^-2^. 
VI. Covenant with Abimelech. 26: 26-33. 

VII. Esau's marriage. Gen. 26: 34-35. 

VIII. Isaac blesses Jacob. Gen. 2y: 1-35. 

(i) Isaac resolves to bless Esau. 2^ : 1-5. 

(2) Rebekah plans to deceive Isaac. 2";: 6-17. 

(3) Jacob obtains the blessing. 2y: 18-29. 

(4) Isaac discovers the deception. 2^: 30-35. 
IX. Esau blessed. Gen. 2y: 36-40. 



54 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

Isaac's Character. — Abraham and Isaac were very differ- 
ent men. Apart from the faith which so markedly dis- 
tinguished Abraham, he had inherent intellectual and mor- 
al strength far above the ordinary. Isaac won simply by 
his power of passive endurance. Once or twice we catch 
a glimpse of a firmness and an energy quite unexpected. 
We do not know what he might have been had his father 
been less strong and indulgent. He inherited great wealth, 
and under the blessing of God he increased it. The 
wealthy boy is highly favored by having immeasurable op- 
portunty to develop the best in him. He often fails be- 
cause he is not forced to a life of effort and is tempted to 
indolence and luxurious self-gratification. Isaac's course 
developed a spirit of sensuous indulgence not compatible 
with strength of character. Therefore, in his old age he 
became a victim to his pampered appetite. 

Isaac and the Blessing. — It seems incredible that Isaac 
should deliberately plan to frustrate the purpose of God. 
The sense of the grave responsibility resting upon him as 
the father of the chosen nation and the high destinies that 
clustered in his blessing failed to raise him above petty 
personal preference. Even his love for Esau had to be 
stimulated by a dish of venison before he could rise to that 
ecstasy which rendered him capable to bless. The bitter 
cry of Esau when he learned that he had missed the bless- 
ing awoke Isaac to a realization of what he had attempted 
to do. He then understood that God's purpose will 
stand. His conduct now appeared in its true light, and he 
trembled exceedingly. His revived sense of God inspired 
him with courage and decision of character. He made no 
attempt to transfer to Esau the blessing he had unwittingly 
bestowed on Jacob. He uttered no complaint but submit- 
ted to the divine will with a greatness of soul born of a true 
sense of his relation to God. 



IN THE BIBLE. 55 

Rebekah and the Blessing. — Rebekah's conduct reveals 
crass ignorance and lack of patience. God's promise was 
to Jacob, and yet she seems to think that the plot of Isaac 
and Esau was about to wrench the blessing- from God's 
hand and bestow it on Esau. We have not the slightest 
evidence that conscience was a factor in the case. Such 
moral obtuseness is unexpected in one who had so long 
enjoyed the privilege of membership in Abraham's family. 
The practice of deception must have been common with 
her. 

Jacob and the Blessing. — Jacob's course reveals a capacity 
for straight-forward lying which has few parallels. With 
unruffled composure and unstammering tongue he could 
repeat the lie as often as his suspicious father desired it. 
His ethical culture at this time was a very sad preparation 
for the high station to which he aspired. We would direct 
special attention to the part Jacob played in this event be- 
cause his moral makeup, as indicated in it, is the key to the 
interpretation of many of the providences that affected 
him during the remainder of his life. 

Esau and the Blessing. — We cannot allow a false sym- 
pathy for Esau to bias our judgment of him. He was as 
guilty as his father in attempting to cheat Jacob out of his 
inheritance. God had promised it to Jacob and Esau him- 
self had voluntarily sold all claim he might have had to it. 
When the apostle says ^'He found no place for repent- 
ance,^" he means simply that Esau could find no chance to 
be released from his bargain with Jacob though he sought 
it with tears. He accused Jacob of supplanting him, al- 
though the blessing was Jacob's both by gift of God and 
by human bargain. Esau was attempting to supplant Jacob. 

Our Standard of Judgment.— It is but just to these char- 
acters that we recall the fact that they were only emerging 
from barbarism. It is sad indeed that the home of the 



56 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

chosen of God should be thus torn by petty jealousies and 
unbrotherly schemes. But our age is not strange to decep- 
tion, wearing the cloak of morality if not of religion. So- 
ciety is more or less afflicted with mental astigmatism 
which renders judgment on prevailing custom untrustwor- 
thy, although moral questions of Bible times can be weigh- 
ed with unerring accuracy. Social custom and business 
methods have fastened upon us so many shackles that a 
man feels he is not free to live out his convictions. He, 
therefore, compromises with his conscience by persuading 
himself that compliance is better in the long run, which 
stripped of linguistic embellishment simply means that we 
can help God by little deceits. 



JACOB AND JOSEPH. 

The history of Jacob and Joseph is another illustration 
of the remarkable complications of life which characterize 
all history. The difference between what is called secu- 
lar and sacred history lies in the fact that the Bible gives 
those events which bring out in the clearest manner the 
overruling providences of God. It also relates these events 
to God by ascribing them to him. Isaac, Rebekah, Jacob 
and Esau were living out their lives as if the destiny of 
each were at his own disposal. Personal desire and ambi- 
tion were actuating them, and it is extremely doubtful that 
they saw in their lifetime that they were working to a pat- 
tern devised by a higher mind than theirs. We look back 
on the completed web and can trace the threads of divine 
providence as they are woven so largely by human agency 
into the warp of the diving purposes. In spite of all hu- 
man help and hindrances, God's counsel prevails and the 
race is blessed. 



IN THE BIBLE. 57 

ANALYSIS OF CHAPTERS 27:41-38:30. 

I. Esau purposes to kill Jacob. Gen. 27: 41. 

11. Rebekah plans for his safety. Gen. 2.y\ 42-46. 

III. Isaac blesses Jacob. Gen. 28: 1-5. 

IV. Esau marries the daughter of Ishmael. Gen. 

28: 6-9. 
V. God appears to Jacob in a dream. Gen. 28: 
10-15. 

(i) The place. 28: lo-ii. 

(2) The dream. 28:12-15. 

VI. Jacob's vow. Gen. 28: 16-22. 

(i) His consciousness of God's presence. 
28: 16-17. 

(2) Erects a pillar. 28: 18-19. 

(3) The vow. 28: 20-22. 

VII. Jacob comes to the flocks of Laban. Gen. 29: 
1-8. 
VIII. Jacob meets Rachel. Gen. 29: 9-12. 
IX. Meets Laban. Gen. 29: 13-14. 
X. Jacob agrees to work seven years for Rachel. 

Gen. 29: 15-20. 
XI. Laban deceives Jacob. Gen. 29: 21-27. 
XII. Jacob works other seven years for Rachel. 
Gen. 29: 28-30. 
XIII. Jacob's eleven sons born. Gen. 29: 31-30: 24. 
(i) Born to Leah, Reuben, Simeon, Levi 
and Judah. 29: 31-35. Issachar 30: 18 

(2) Born to Bilhah, Rachel's maid, Dan, 
NaphtaH. 30: 1-8. 

(3) Born to Zilpah, Leah's maid. Gad and 
Asher. 30: 9-13. 

(4) Zebulun and Dinah born to Leah. 30: 
14-21. 

(5) Joseph born to Rachel. 30: 22-24. 



58 



PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 



XIV. Jacob asks permission of Laban to depart. 
Gen. 30: 25-26. 
XV. Agrees to stay with Laban on different wages. 
Gen. 30: 27-36. 
XVI. Jacob increases his wealth. Gen. 30: 37-43. 
XVIL Laban and his sons become jealous of Jacob. 
Gen. 31 : 1-2. 
XVIII. Jacob prepares to leave Laban. Gen. 31 : 3-16. 
XIX. Jacob steals away. Gen. 31: 17-21. 
XX. Laban pursues Jacob. Gen. 31 : 22-24. 
XXI. Jacob and Laban make a covenant. Gen. 31: 

25-55- 

(i) Laban restrained from doing Jacob in- 
jury. 31 : 25-29. 

(2) Laban searches Jacob's stuff for his 
household gods. 31 : 30-35. 

(3) Jacob rebukes Laban. 31: 36-42. 

(4) The covenant. 31 : 43-55- 

XXII. Jacob prepares to meet Esau. Gen. 32: 1-23. 
(i) Jacob sees the Angels. 32: 1-2. 

(2) He sends messengers to Esau. 32: 3-5. 

(3) The messengers' report. 32: 6-8. 

(4) Jacob's prayer. 32: 9-12. 

(5) Sends a present to Esau. 32: 13-23. 

(6) Jacob wrestles with the angel. 32: 
24-32. 

XXIII. Jacob meets Esau. Gen. 33: 1-15. 

XXIV. Jacob buys a field and builds an altar. Gen. 33: 

16-20. 
XXV. Rashness of Jacob's sons. Gen. 34: 1-31. 
XXVI. God sends Jacob to Bethel. Gen. 35: 1-5. 
XXVII. God blesses Jacob. Gen. 35: 6-15. 
XXVIII. Benjamin born and the death of Rachel. Gen. 
35: 16-20. 



IN THE BIBLE. 59 

XXIX. Generations of Jacob. Gen. 35: 21-26. 

XXX. Isaac's death. Gen. 35: 27-29. 
XXXI. Generations of Esau. Gen. 36: 1-43. 
XXXII. Joseph sold. Gen. 37: 1-36. 
(i) His dreams 37: i-ii. 

(2) Visits his brethren. 37: 12-17. 

(3) The plot of his brothers. 37: 18-28. 

(4) Reuben's effort to save him. 37: 29-30. 

(5) They deceive their father. 37: 31-36. 
XXXIII. Onan's tresspass and Tamar's deception. Gen. 

38: 1-30. 

Supernatural Agency. — The supernatural agency of God 
intervenes in human affairs only when natural agencies are 
incompetent to teach man the lesson God desires him to 
learn. Here we include in natural agencies both inspired 
revelation and the unperceived influence of the Holy Ghost. 
We have no intimation of any direct revelation of God to 
Noah during all the days of the flood, but when a crisis 
came in his life and in God's plan^ it is said "God remem- 
bered Noah.^' Had Jacob been allowed to go to Padan- 
aram in the state of mind in which he started and to mingle 
with his purely worldly relatives, the probability is that he 
would have attained a fixedness of character totally unfit 
for his high calling. 

The Bethel Experience. — The inspired narrative has intro- 
duced us to Jacob. It requires no prophetic insight to 
assure the mind that a long course of severe training was 
the line of culture his character and attainments required. 
When on the threshold of this life of discipline it was im- 
portant that he be given an outlook of a glorious future. 

Jacob had no conception of the real content of his fath- 
er's blessing. His conscience awakened by his exile and 
the loneliness induced by strange scenes would suggest to 
him that possibly a stolen blessing would be fruitless. His 



60 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

right to the heritage of promise must be put beyond doubt. 
The occasion therefore possessed a dignity worthy a di- 
vine interposition. The vision was a beautful one. Its 
beauty was transcendant. The ladder reaching from 
heaven to earth symboHzed a definite connection between 
them, and the angels passing up and down^ a personal in- 
tercouse between Jehovah and His people. Jacob was no 
longer a fugitive from justice. The consciousness that he 
was chosen of God to be the father of a nation which would 
bless the world clothed him with dignity. Worship be- 
comes callous and life careless unless we see through form 
to personal presence. And yet Jacob ought to have known 
much about God. Abraham lived sixteen years after the 
t)irth of Jacob. Lamech, Noah's father was born before 
Adam died, and Abraham was born before Shem died. Ja- 
cob, therefore, might have received the story of creation 
from Adam, handed down through only five generations. 

No doubt Jacob was accustomed to go through the form 
of their family worship but in this vision he is brought to 
recognize the personal presence of God for the first time. 
Such revelation of God always brings with it a sense of 
unworthiness and sinfulness. Where there is keen spiri- 
tual insight and nobleness of soul such experience in- 
duces t'O true worship. The mind breaks through form and 
rises to dedication of life. Jacob crystallized these emo- 
tions in the rude altar and the vow. 

Jacobs Padan-aram Life. — Jacobus Padan-aram exper- 
ience was one of defection from God. He was naturally 
worldly and the sharp business competition to which he 
was subjected increased his cunning and self-reliance. He 
had not communed with God deep enough and long 
enough to insure an abiding sense of his presence and pur- 
pose. His Bethel impressions wore off and the sharp bar- 
gains he was driving blunted his spiritual sensibilities until' 



IN THE BIBLE. 61 

God was put in the background of his thoughts and Ufe. 
Nothing has greater influence to close the avenues to the 
inner Hfe than efforts of others to cheat us in bargain, or to 
take from us what is justly our own. Jacob's vow had been 
made when his- heart was warm and his nature was receiv- 
ing an influx of God. So long as he was safe and prosper- 
ous in Padan-aram his vow was forgotten. The anger and 
jealousy of Laban recalled the God-revealed destiny of his 
family. But it did not wake his dormant spirit and lead 
him to childlike trust in God. He plans for himself; he 
acts for himself; he is the same confident self-reliant man. 

The Angel wrestles with Jacob. — Another critical time had 
come in the evolution of God's plan for the nation, and 
only supernatural intervention could achieve a right atti- 
tude of mind and heart. The return of Jacob was purely 
religious in its significance. The land had been promised 
him as the representative of the nation which God would yet 
raise up to conserve the interests of pure religion, and to il- 
lustrate the effect of such religion on national polity and in- 
dividual life. Nothing could be more incongruous than 
the tenets of spiritual monotheism and the self-trustful, ma- 
terial-hampered mind of Jacob. He had already the plan 
to reconcile Esau in process of execution. If he were per- 
mitted to obtain the territory either by conquest or by his 
ability to outwit Esau his title to it would not be directly 
from God. He was so sure of success that he rose long 
before day dawned and sent his family and flocks across 
the brook to begin their day's journey. He was left alone 
and an angel wrestled with him. 

We have indicated that Jacob's character and state of 
mind made this providence necessary. They are a key to 
the interpretation of it. The wrestling was not prayer. It 
was the actual struggle of a strong man trained to rely on 
himself to a degree not favorable to a sense of God's man- 



62 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

agement of his affairs. Jacob had figuratively wrestled with 
God all his life. This contest was a concrete illustration of 
Jacob's whole history. It was when he found himself weak 
that he clung to God with the confiding trust that called 
forth that happy commendation^ *'Thy name shall be 
called no more Jacob, but Israel; for thou hast striven with 
God and with man and hast prevailed.^^ He thus became 
the heir of God through humble reliance and simple faith. 
The meeting with Esau was not the important one; it was 
the meeting with God. 

The Ordinary Providences. — We have not paused to notice 
the educative influence on Jacob of the ordinary provi- 
dences of God. The purpose in dwelling on the special 
events is to present as clearly as possible the method which 
divine wisdom and power pursued to supplement the ordi- 
nary blessings and punishments of nature. But the life of 
Jacob was full of lessons from this source. No one, how- 
ever closely his life may conform to the lines of the divine 
purpose, can reasonably expect to be delivered from the 
natural effects of a violation of a law of his being or of the 
constitution of society. Jacob was no exception. His life 
becomes pathetic as it draws near to a close and he is 
caught in a current far beyond his control. The heavy 
blows that fell upon him are worthy of note by the biblical 
student, in that they reveal very much of the nature of 
God's providences toward individuals of his people apart 
from any representative character he may impose upon 
them. 

These are parts of the Bible that make it much more to 
the world than simple history, however high the purpose in 
that history may be. They touch the inner life of the de- 
votional reader and stimulate in him much of the same 
movement of soul that they inspired in the one whose ac- 
tual experiences they were. 



IN THE BIBLE. 65 

The death of Deborah, Rachel and Isaac follow each 
other in rapid succession. His wayward sons get him into 
trouble and Joseph, the pride of his life, is torn from him. 

But our purpose in this study is to note the develop- 
ment of God's plan for the race. Individual development, 
therefore, comes within the limits of the purpose only in so 
far as it has special reference to the nation. The national 
significance of Jacob's life closes on his return to Bethel 
and the narrative gently leaves him and turns to Joseph. 

ANALYSIS OF CHAPTERS 39-50. 

I. Joseph in Potiphar's house. Gen. 39: 1-18. 
II. Joseph in prison. Gen. 39: 19-40: 23. 

(i) Wins the confidence of the keeper of the 
prison. 39 : 19-23. 

(2) The butler and baker put in prison. 40: 1-4. 

(3) They dream. 40: 5-8. 

(4) The butler's dream and the interpretation. 
40: 8-13. 

(5) Joseph's request. 40: 14-15. 

(6) The baker's dream and the interpretation. 
40: 16-19. 

(7) The interpretations fulfilled. 40: 20-23. 

III. Joseph released from prison. Gen. 41 : 1-36. 

(i) Pharoah's dream. 41 : 1-8. 

(2) Joseph called to interpret it. 41 : 9-14. 

(3) Joseph interprets it. 41 : 15-32. 

(4) His advice to Pharoah. 41 : 33-36. 

IV. Joseph ruler of Egypt. Gen. 41 : 37-45:28. 

(i) Clothed with authority. 41: 37-45. 

(2) Joseph^s policy during the seven years of 
plenty. 41 : 46-49. 

(3) His sons born. 41 : 50-52. 

(4) The seven years of famine. 41 : 53-57. 



64 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

(5) Jacob's sons go to Egypt to buy corn. 42 : 

1-5. 

(6) Their interview with Joseph. 42 : 6-23. 

(7) Simeon retained. 42: 24. 

(8) Their money returned. 42 : 25-28. 

(9) Jacob's sorrow. 42:29-38. 

(10) Second trip to Egypt. 43:1-15. 

(11) Entertained by Joseph. 43:16-34. 

(12) The cup put in Benjamin's sack. 44: 1-5. 

(13) The men return to Joseph. 44: 6-15. 

(14) Judah's defense. 44: 16-34. 

(15) Joseph reveals himself to his brothers. 45: 

1-15. 

(16) Sends for his father. 45 : 16-28. 

V. Israel in Egypt. Gen. 47: 1-31. 
VI. Jacob blesses Joseph's sons. Gen. 48: 1-22. 
VII. Jacob blesses his children. Gen. 49: 1-27. 
VIII. Jacob's charge in regard to his body. Gen. 49 : 
28-32. 
IX. Jacob's death. Gen. 49: 33. 
X. His sons bury him. Gen. 50: 1-14. 
XL Joseph's covenant with his brothers. Gen. 50: 

15-21. 
XII. Joseph's charge to the children of Israel and his 
death. Gen. 50: 22-26. 
Joseph's Native Character. — Joseph was eminently fitted 
naturally for the part he was to play in the development of 
the Hebrew nation. The influence of the divine agency in 
the native character of men lies below the surface. We 
call it heredity, and so it is. By this we simply mean that 
like begets like. No explanation of likeness and varia- 
tion in reference to the physical part of man has yet been 
given, satisfactory to scientists. When we attempt to pene- 
trate into the hidden recesses of the soul and to trace there 



IN THE BIBLE. 65 

the subtle agencies which have conspired to make each 
man a distinct personaHty we must confess that the prob- 
lem transcends human investigation. Traits of character of- 
ten appear which were distinctive of some ancestor of sev- 
eral generations before, and these have been modified into 
new predispositions by succeeding ancestors until hope of 
character analysis is lost. Persons of pecuHar capabilities 
are produced when and where they are needed. It may be 
said the occasion brings the man to the front. Well, it 
does, but the times and the man are both part of the all- 
embracing plan of God. It appears, therefore, that God, 
with whom a thousand years are as one day, controls the 
latent possibilities of heredity to produce a character 
adapted to a certain work. 

Joseph's Dreams. — Joseph felt that his dreams were sig- 
nificant. They were prophetic, but he little thought that 
their fulfillment lay in the line of suffering he afterward ex- 
perienced. Jacob's Bethel experience is the first instance 
we have of God revealing himself in dreams. The dreams 
of Pharaoh may be put in the same catalogue. Their true 
philosophy may be apprehended if it is remembered that 
the world was then in the first stages of monotheistic edu- 
cation. They belong to a past dispensation and give no 
one authority to consider the common activities of the 
mind while asleep of more than ordinary importance. 

But is was because Joseph's dreams may also be placed 
in the catalogue of ordinary dreams that his brothers were 
offended by them. There is little doubt that Joseph's 
dreams embodied his waking ambitions. This detracts 
nothing from his character. Aspiration may be considered 
the pulse throb of capability. This is especially true of 
young persons whose experience with the world has not 
educated them out of their natural trend. All of Jacob's 
sons would know that the heritage of promise would de- 



66 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

scend through some one of them. It is scarcely to be ex- 
pected that, ignorant as they were of God and his ways, 
they could understand that the full fruition of the promise 
was a spiritual supremacy. His brothers took his dreams 
to be an index to his aspirations and they became jealous 
of him. Dreams often do exhibit picturesquely the tend- 
ency of character. They are often the chip on the current 
of life that indicates its direction. The ordinary vagaries 
of nightmare may mean nothing, but a persistent line oi 
dreaming may well cause the wise man to examine himself. 
He may find tendencies maturing in his character which 
he did not suspect were so strong. 

God's Purpose in the Sojourn of His People in Egypt. — 
It was the national idea that rendered Egyptian bondage 
necessary. If the church succeed in these early conditions 
it was necessary that she be related to strong national life. 
It was through national deliverances that the truth of God's 
supremacy over idols could best be vindicated. This was 
the most potent way of bringing the truths of spiritual 
monotheism before the world as well as the only way to 
preserve them from total loss. The one family could not 
become a nation in Canaan. Their history does not war- 
rant the supposition that they would have withstood the 
temptation to alliances with their heathen neighbors. More- 
over they would have become involved in endless wars of 
jealousy whenever they attempted to make good their 
claim to the territory. In Egypt they were free from the 
temptation to compromising alliances. Their business and 
mode of life caused them to be thoroughly despised by the 
Egyptians. The shepherd kings were ruling in Egypt at 
this time. There would be no disposition on the part of 
this royal family to ostracize the Hebrews on account of 
their business, for they were in sympathy with shepherd life. 
But the probability is that the change from the old dynasty 



IN THE BIBLE. 6T 

to the shepherd Hue kings had not produced a correspond- 
ing change of sentiment in the nation. They were, there- 
fore, assigned the land of Goshen and treated with kind- 
ness, although with exclusiveness, so long as the Shep- 
herd dynasty continued. God thus isolated his people in the 
very midst of a nation far advanced in human culture and 
the science of government. He threw around them a wall 
of his providences that effectually preserved their national 
integrity. It was the "horror of darkness" of Abraham's 
vision but it was necessary to their national life. 

Joseph a Transitional Character. — The Patriarchal period 
closed with Jacob. Joseph is a transitional character. The 
relation of Joseph's life to Hebrew history ends when his 
father's family was settled in Egypt. He was not a patri- 
arch and he did not found nor govern the nation. His 
thorough Hebrew sympathy appears in his command 
that his bones be buried in Palestine. He understood his 
mission and fulfilled it well. When Jacob blessed his sons 
he closed the patriarchal period. Henceforth not one man 
nor one family but a nation was to be the channel of God's 
blessing to the world. 

The Permission of Evil. — The sale of Joseph into Egypt 
is one of the most evident instances of the divine agency 
working through social agencies to be found in any history. 
The evil was permitted because it was the working out of 
the free agency of the brothers. But the scheme was foil- 
ed in the triumph of the good. We can correctly inter- 
pret history only in the light of the great fundamental 
truth embodied in this transaction. A sense of its univer- 
sal application assures the good man that God reigns and 
in the end, right will triumph. 



PART II. 

THE CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF 
THE NATION. 

Kxodus, lycviticus, Numbers. 



IN THE BIBLE. 71 



V. 

THE EXODUS. 



Introductory ~The deliverance from Egyptian bondage be- 
gins another epoch in the history of God's chosen peo- 
ple. The flood was the first epoch-marking event after the 
fall. During the dispensation between the fall and the flood 
man was without a formulated code ol law and a system of 
government. The call of Abraham closes one dispensation 
and opens another. From Noah to Abraham was a period 
of rapid development of national organization. Conditions 
changed and in order to hold man to monotheistic worship 
God adapted his method to the changed conditions. He 
called Abraham to be the custodian of the true religion. 
God surrounded the chosen family with a wall of his provi- 
dences to develop faith in Jehovah. In Exodus the indi- 
vidual becomes a nation. Biography changes to history. 
Heretofore extraordinary providences were designed to 
develop the faith of a man, but from the exodus to the 
close of Jewish history their purpose was the development 
of a national faith. 

This period covers the time from Moses to Samuel. Dur- 
the Patriarchal period the providences of God were father- 
ly chastisements and informal revelations. These were not 
discontinued, but administration by law was added. The 
teaching was of the same concrete nature. It was eminently 
adapted to emphasize the fact of God's personal presence 
in providence and in conscience. Such teaching can be ap- 
preciated by the intellect only when it is guided by moral 
sympathy. The divinely formulated constitution and laws 



72 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

of the Hebrew nation contain nothing which does not root 
in man's nature. But no human legislature could ever 
have enacted them, for they are as high as heaven. They 
would lead man toward God, and that is not his natural 
trend. The flattering sentiment that man naturally seeks 
God is negatived by biblical history. 

ISRAEL IN BONDAGE. 

A clear understanding of the physical and spiritual con- 
dition of the Hebrews at the time of Moses will help us 
to recognize the wisdom in the method of their exodus. 
At first they were an exclusively pastoral people, dwelling 
in the land of Goshen and having charge of the king's 
flocks. When the new king rose that knew not Joseph they 
were made public slaves. They were officered by their own 
countrymen and Egyptian taskmasters held these Hebrew 
rulers to a strict account. Conditions favored a course 
of slavery. The Israelites were a shepherd people and de- 
pendent on the soil. The land of Egypt since Joseph's 
time belonged to the king. Wretchedness is the legitimate 
result of a landed aristocracy so remote from the husband- 
man that no sympathy exists between them. The Hebrew 
case is no exception. The chains of bondage were easily 
fastened upon them. But the responsibility of the oppres- 
sion is made to rest on the nation and not exclusively on 
the royal family; and this was right. Caste sentiment 
among the Egyptians gave the king encouragement and 
support in his efforts. No nation can secure nor retain the 
loyalty of a numerically strong and intelligent class which 
they subject to a grinding oppression. But the secret of the 
enfeebled spirit of the Hebrews lies in their defection from 
the true God. In Josh. 24 : 14 the people are exhorted to 
"put away the gods which your fathers served on the other 
side of the floods and in Egypt ; and serve ye the Lord." 



IN THE BIBLE. 73 

Ezek. 20 : 7-8. ''Then said I unto them^ cast y-e away every 
man the abominations of his eyes^ and defile not yoursel- 
ves with the idols of Egypt : I am the Lord your God. But 
they rebelled against me and would not hearken unto me: 
they did not every man cast awa}^ the abominations of his 
eyes^ neither did they forsake the idols of Egypt.'' No pure- 
ly physical servitude could have hade a people, naturally 
strong, so weak and servile. 

ANALYSIS OF CHAPTERS 1-12. 

I. Prelude to the account of the exodus. Ex. i: 
1-2:25. 

(i) The Hebrews in the Egyptian nation, i: 
1-22. 

(2) The Deliverer. 2: i-io. 

(3) Moses flees from Egypt. 2: 11-22. 

(4) The bondage becomes more severe. 2: 

23-25. 
II. Moses"* commission. Ex. 3: 1-4:17. 

(i) God calls, Moses demurs. 3: 1-13. 

(2) God instructs, Moses hesitates. 3: 14-4:1. 

(3) God encourages, Moses still hesitates. 

4: 2-10. 

(4) Aaron made assistant to Moses. 4: 11-17. 

III. Moses goes to Egypt. Ex. 4: 18-28. 

IV. Moses and Aaron appeal to the elders.' Ex. 4: 

29-13. 
V. Pharaoh refuses the request to go to worship. 
Ex. 5: 1-5. 
VI. The effect. Ex. 5: 6-6:13. 

(i) Tasks increased and officers afiflicted. 5: 
6-14. 

(2) The officer's complaint. 5: 15-23. 

(3) God renews his promise. 6: 1-13. 



74 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

VII. Generations of Reuben, Simeon and Levi. Ex. 

6: 14-30. 
VIII. Moses' second interview with Pharaoh. Ex. 7: 
1-18. 
IX. The waters become blood — first plague. Ex. 7: 

19-25- 
X. The frogs — second plague. Ex. 8: 1-15. 

(i) The plague. 8: 1-6. 

(2) The magicians duplicate it. 8: 7. 

(3) Pharaoh's petition and promise. 8: 8-14. 

(4) He hardens his heart. 8: 15. 
XL The plague of lice. Ex. 8: 16-19. 

(i) Its extent. 8: 16-17. 
(2) The magicians fail to duplicate it. 8: 
18-19. 
XII. The plague of flies. Ex. 8: 20-32. 
(i) The request. 8: 20. 

(2) Plague threatened. 8: 21-23. 

(3) Extent of plague. 8: 24. 

(4) Pharaoh's promise. 8: 25-30. 

(5) The plague removed and Pharaoh hard- 

ens his heart. 8: 30-32. 

XIII. The plague of murrain. Ex. 9: 1-7. 

XIV. The plague of boils. Ex. 9: 8-12. 
XV. The plague of hail. Ex. 9: 13-35 

(i) The plague threatened. 9: 13-19. 

(2) Those who believed prepared for it. 9: 

20-21. 

(3) Extent of plague. 9: 22-26. 

(4) The plague removed. 9: 27-34. 

(5) Pharaoh's heart hardened. 9: 35. 
XVI. The plague of locusts. Ex. 10 : 1-20. 

(i) Plague threatened. 10: 1-6. 

(2) Pharaoh advised by his servants. 10: 7. 



IN THE BIBLE. 



75 



12: 



and 



(3) Consents that the men go. 10:8-11. 

(4) The plague sent. 10: 12-15. 

(5) The plague removed. 10: 16-20. 
XVIL The plague of darkness. Ex. 10: 21-23. 

XVIIL Pharaoh declines to see Moses and Aaron. Ex. 
10: 27-29. 
XX. Egypt's first-born threatened. Ex. 11:1-10. 
XXI. The Passover instituted. Ex. 12: 1-28. 

(i) The beginning of the year changed 
1-2. 

(2) Directions in regard to preparing 
eating it. 12: 3-1 1. 

(3) Its meaning. 12: 12-14. 

(4) Unleavened bread. 12: 15-20. 

(5) The Passover eaten. 12: 21-28. 
XXII. The first-born of Egypt slain. Ex. 12: 29-30. 

XXIII. Israel hurried out of Egypt. Ex. 12: 31-42. 

XXIV. The Passover made a memorial. 12: 43-51. 

Moses. — There is much in Moses, as a man, to admire. 
It is with reluctance that we turn from a study of his life. 
Every reader will notice that his biography is given be- 
cause of his relation to the nation. The man is in the back- 
ground and the nation in the foreground. The emancipa- 
tion of the Hebrews, if accomplished at all, must be largely 
without their own co-operation. Moses did not under- 
stand this at first, and he found his brethren wholly unpre- 
pared in spirit and disposition to respond to any efforts 
to rescue them. No doubt he felt the divine call in his 
conscience; but he was not yet the man God needed for his 
special work. He was learned in all the wisdom of the 
Egyptians. This implied the most advanced culture the 
world then afforded along the lines of science of nature and 
government. How much the pantheism of Egypt colored 
this education we do not know. The forty years of shep- 



76 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

herd experience gave him time and, under the tuition of 
the Spirit, abiHty to square his theories with the truth 
There could not have been a better preparation for the 
work to which Moses was called than a careful study of the 
history and the theology of Genesis. He may have writ- 
ten the book at this time. 

God's New Name. — It appears plainly beneath the sur- 
face that Moses considered the spiritual bondage of the 
people to be the greatest barrier to their exodus. Their 
conception of God was so vague that to recall him as the 
God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob would produce very fee- 
ble response, therefore, the new name, "I Am That I Am/* 
It is somewhat difficult for us at this day to understand ex- 
actly what this would mean to the ordinary Hebrew slave. 
Its principal import was doubtless the unchanging con- 
sistency of God^s being. This would be expressive to any 
people of any time, but it would have an influence on the 
Hebrews to inspire hope and hence loyalty to God. The 
traditions of their fathers and the promises bound up in 
those traditions would still linger in their minds and help 
to the interpretation of the name. 

The Primary Import of the Plagues. — The new name was 
not enough. Abraham might hear the voice of God and 
leave the country, not knowing whither he went, but a 
great people in physical and spiritual bondage would not 
move so readily. Moreover they needed the discipline of 
the plagues to exalt God in their minds above the heathen 
gods, and to create a loyal devotion to him. The plagues 
touched the Egyptians incidentally. Their primary import 
was to educate the Israelites. And here let us briefly recall 
the fact that the relation of God's providences to the He- 
brew nation was largely educative. A history of the idea 
of God is a history of the development of true faith. The 
difference is not so much between spiritual and secular as 



IN THE BIBLE. 77 

between a /life filled with an earnest sense of God and a 
godless one. The cry that rose to .heaven from this people 
was a wail of anguish. We have no reason to interpret it 
as a prayer of faith. The Old Testament worthies may 
have enjoyed a fuller participation in the divine life than we 
can construe for them, from their experiences as recorded 
in the Bible. It is safe to assume an utter inability on the 
part of the nation at this time to rise above a child view 
of the nature and purpose of commandments. A com- 
mandment or law to have influence must come from a 
source of recognized authority. The purpose of the plagues 
is therefore apparent. God must be recognized as supreme 
before the nation be inducted into the administration of 
law. 

The Character of the Plagues. — Explanations have been 
proposed to account for the phenomena of the plagues by 
natural agencies, but the candid scientist feels that they are 
inadequate. Cryptogamous vegetation or red earth may 
color the waters of the Nile, insects and disease may afflict 
the inhabitants of a country, but the fact remains that the 
intensity and destructiveness of these phenomena are not 
so great as the biblical account ascribes to the Egyptian 
plagues. The plagues came and went through the agency 
of Moses and Aaron, and the Hebrews had immunity from 
them. It is not probable that they followed one another 
in rapid succession. This would have weakened their edu- 
cative influence. It is not necessary either that they be 
divorced from all natural sequence. God does not teach 
his people that he must confuse the whole order of na- 
ture to make it subserve his will. They were so plainly 
supernatural that the Hebrews and Egyptians both attrib- 
uted them to divine agency, and they were so relevant to 
God's avowed purpose that the student of any age must 
look upon them in the same light. They would reveal to 



78 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

all, the power of Jehovah and that he was superior to 
Egyptian gods. 

In every case the blow was dealt to some ruHng deity, to 
the priesthood or to Egyptian worship. Each invaded 
some realm which was under the special protection of one 
of their deities. The first three are plagues of loathesome- 
ness — blood-stained waters, frogs^ and lice. The next 
three bring actual pain and loss — flies, murrain on the cat- 
tle, and boils on man. The next three disarrange the course 
of nature — hail, locusts, and darkness. The tenth touches 
the springs of human life — the death of the first born of 
Egypt. The Israelites were exempt from those plagues 
which gave pain or personal loss. They would thus learn 
that their God cared for them and was able to protect them. 
God's purpose to lead them out of bondage would be em- 
phasized by the fact that the plagues came after Pharaoh 
repeated his refusal to let them go. The human reason 
that grasps the method of God in these dispensations com- 
mends its wisdom and adaption to the end. 

The First Request. — The first request Moses made of 
Pharaoh was to allow them to go three day's journey into 
the wilderness to worship. The request was so perfectly 
reasonable that every Israelite and every Egyptian not 
blinded by caste prejudice must have concurred in it. 
Such pilgrimages were common among the Egyptians. 
There is no hint that the Israelites did not purpose to re- 
turn. Their request was sincere and they would surely have 
come back to their tasks. 

Here the wisdom of the method again appears. A three 
days' journey would have shown them what a great nation 
they were; it would have planted in their minds a desire for 
national independence; and it would have developed the 
ability to act in concert when away from the eyes of their 



IN THE BIBLE. 7» 

taskmasters. They would, however, never again have been 
the same abject slaves. 

But the request was refused. This would naturally 
awaken any feeling of resentment that slumbered within 
them. They did not care particularly to worship, but a 
short vacation was desirable. When the request was de- 
nied they would almost bum with a desire to worship. An 
arbitrary refusal of a reasonable request increases desire 
tenfold. Of course^ the request looked toward the perma- 
nent exodus of the people at a future time. There seems 
to have been no effort to conceal this. Pharaoh was there- 
fore in a dilemma. Either to grant the request or deny it 
would place the leaven of discontent in the minds of alL 
He choose the most foolish course. It is not probable that 
the Hebrews had any particular desire to leave Egypt per- 
manently, but he implanted this desire in them when he in- 
creased their hardships. The added severity fell on the 
Hebrew rulers. This completed the alienation of the na- 
tion. Moses failed to see the necessity for this increased 
severity; but it was highly important to their exodus that 
the more favored ruling class should feel the cruel iron of 
bondage before they would co-operate heartily. 

Pharaoh's Heart Hardened. — The primary design in the 
plagues appears also in God's relation to the hardening of 
Pharaoh's heart. Had it not been for this agency, Pharaoh 
might have weakened under the divine signs to the extent 
that he would have sent Israel away before they were pre- 
pared to go. God did not create the moral turpitude we 
find in the heart of the king. He simply gave him courage 
to do his worst. Ten times is the hardening process refer- 
red to Pharaoh himself and ten times to God. 

Three Hebrew words are translated harden. Their 
sense in so far as they relate to this event may be traced in 
the marginal reading of the revised version. Qa-shah 



80 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

means to make hard in the sense of insensible. Ka-hhedh 
means heavy in the sense of unimpressionable. Chazaq, 
to make strong in the sense of fearlessness. This word is 
used when God says to Joshua: '^'Be strong and of good 
courage." Ex. 7: 13 means hard in the sense of insensi- 
ble; 7:14, heavy; 7: 22, strong; 8: 15, heavy; 8: 19, strong; 
8: ^2, heavy; 9: 7 and 34, heavy; 9: 35, strong. These are 
all referred to the agency of Pharaoh himself, and they il- 
lustrate the use of the terms throughout the narrative. 

It is not every man that has the physical courage to act 
out the evil in his heart. God sometimes put fear into the 
hearts of the enemies of his people that he might there- 
by bring a valuable lesson home to the conscience 
of the nation. No one assumes that there can be 
any wrong in making a man afraid to commit 
sin, even when the will inclines toward it. All 
admit that the man is morally guilty of the sin. It 
does not change the case in so far as the man is 
concerned, but the evil influence on society may be less. 
In the case before us, society and the world could be taught 
a valuable lesson by giving Pharaoh courage to follow out 
his own premediated and head-strong course. In this sense 
the hardening of Pharaoh's heart cannot be construed to 
mean that God gave him the disposition to sin. 

Another misconception of God^s relation to this event 
may arise from the command to ''borrow" from the Egyp- 
tians. To borrow, with us, means to get with the purpose 
of paying back again. It does not appear that any idea 
of return lurked in this transaction. It does not relieve 
the moral obligation to assume that the Egyptians owed 
it to the Hebrews. But the word translated borrow here 
is elsewhere rendered ask. It occurs when Solomon "ask- 
ed" wisdom and did not ""ask" long life. The Egyptians 
no doubt so understood it. 



IN THE BIBLE. 81 

The Institution of the Passover. — The Passover was the 
fullest expression of redemption the world had yet had. It 
was the birthday of the nation. They were to reckon time 
from it. We must limit the discussion of it to what it 
meant to the nation at that time. The people were in a 
good frame of mind to receive deep and lasting impressions. 
Their salvation from the tenth plague was not on the 
ground of personal merit but through atonement accepted 
by them. 

1. It taught them that the family was not to be merged 
into the national life. The nation was ushered into exist- 
ence with the home the tower of strength. 

2. The Israelites were given four days to deliberate on 
the plan before the execution of it. Their redemption 
from the plague most to be dreaded called for their own ac- 
tivity and faith. The Passover would be eaten by them as 
a religious service and with an awe induced by the fear 
that the death angel was even now scanning the door post 
for the blood. Their salvation was not a matter of course 
but of grace. 

3. The value of implicit obedience was impressed and 
the disposition to it strengthened. The beginning of any 
education must be in symbols. The preservation of this 
sacrifice through the centuries suggests that the Hebrews 
caught something of its deeper meeting. 

The Passover Typical. — This feast was prophetic of the 
person and work of Christ. The Jewish dispensation opens 
with it observed in Egypt and closes with the observance of 
it by the Lord and his disciples in that upper room in Jeru- 
salem. There it was merged into the Lord's Supper with 
its blessed privileges of friendly intercourse with the Sav- 
ior. Fear has changed to love. Nor is this all. At that 
time was the curtain lifted from the future and we look on 
into the consummation of these types in an unending feast 



82 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

around the throne of God. ^'I say unto you I will not drink 
henceforth of this fruit of the vine until that day when I 
drink it new with you in my Father's Kingdom." — Matt. 
26: 29. 

FROM EGYPT TO SINAI. 

Secular historians begin the history of the Hebrew nation 
with the deliverance from Egypt. It gives a very meager 
account of the forty years of wilderness wanderings, but 
still enough to convince us that other nations now looked 
upon the Israelites as a rival or possible enemy. There is 
a spiritual coherence in their history which can be explain- 
ed only in the light of God's purpose in the nation. 

ANALYSIS OF CHAPTERS 13-18. 

I. The Passover made a yearly memorial feast. Ex. 
13: 1-16. 
11. The Israelites leave Egypt. Ex. 13: 17-22. 

(i) Reason for taking them by the way of the 
wilderness. 13: 17-18. 

(2) Take Joseph^s bones with them. 13 : 19. 

(3) God's method of leading them. 13: 20-22. 

III. Pharoah pursues the Israelites. Ex. 14: 1-31. 

(i) Moses warned of Pharaoh^s change of mind 

14: 1-4. 

(2) Pharaoh's pursuit. 14: 5-9. 

(3) The Israelites frightened. 14: 10-12. 

(4) Moses encourages them. 14: 13-14. 

(5) The Israelites cross the sea. 14: 15-22. 

(6) The Egyptian army drowned. 14: 23-31. 

IV. The song of Moses. Ex. 15: 1-19. 
V. Miriam sings. Ex, 15:20-22. 

VI. The march to EHm. Ex. 15 : 23-27. 

(i) The waters of Marah healed. 15: 23-25. 



IN THE BIBLE. 83 

(2) God promises them immunity from Egyp- 

tian diseases. 15: 2(i. 

(3) They come to EHm. 15: 27. 
VII. At the wilderness of Sin. Ex. 16: 1-36. 

(i) They murmur for the flesh pots of Egypt. 
16: 1-3. 

(2) Manna promised. 16: 4-9. 

(3) Quails sent. 16: 10-13. 

(4) First experience with the n:anna. 16: 14-31. 

(5) Some manna preserved as a memorial. 16: 

32-36. 
VIII. Israel at Rephidim. Ex. 17: 1-18:27. 

(i) Moses smites the rock for water. 17: 1-7, 

(2) Defeat of Amalek. 17: 8-14. 

(3) Moses erects an altar. 17: 15-16. 

(4) Jethro brings the family of Moses to the 

camp. 18: 1-12. 

(5) Jethro's advice. 18: 13-23. 

(6) Moses acts on the advice of Jethro. 18: 

24-26. 

(7) Jethro departs. 18 : 27. 

Extreme Conditions Unfavorable to Development. — Man al- 
ways makes most rapid development where the conditions 
of prosperous life are neither too mild nor too severe. 
Heretofore God had been doing everything for Israel. Re- 
sponsibility is a great developer of power, and the time had 
now come to ask that they rely on themselves to some ex- 
tent, at least. Neither nations nor individuals leap from 
a lower to a higher plane. The Israelites were doubtless 
willing to continue to stand still and see the salvation of 
God. But their co-operation in the divine plan was now 
required. The first period of their wilderness experience 
was one of the disillusion. Nothing is more fatal to the 
culture of any man or people than exemption from the 



84 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

hardships of Ufe. The divine interposition constantly modi- 
fied the conditions of the IsraeHtes to the proper tone. 

The Battle with the Amakkites. — The inability of the na- 
tion to wage successful war lay in their inexperience and 
numbers. The purpose of the miracles which had shield- 
ed them up to this time was the ordinary design of miracles 
— to educate to a point where miracles are not needed. A 
nation's safety depends largely on the patriotism of her citi- 
zens. Nothing creates national spirit like the shock of 
battle. Nothing promotes discipline in the camp more 
than the cultivation of the martial spirit. The battle with 
the Amalekites was arranged to further these ends. The 
army advanced from passive reliance on God to active co- 
operation with him. The divine agency was conditioned 
on their own effort, and God's relation to the army was 
made clear. Moses crystallized this relationship in the motto 
"Jehovah Nissi" — the Lord is my banner. 

The same policy appears when Jethro visited the camp. 
His suggestion to appoint elders to help Moses was ac- 
cepted and received the indorsement of God throughout 
the history of the nation. Not only in war but also in civil 
affairs God was withdrawing his supernatural agency. 



IN THE BIBLE. 85 

VI. 

ISRAEL AT SINAI. 



The remaining chapters of Exodus (19-40) record the 
history of the nation while encamped at the base of Mt. 
Sinai. The time covered by these chapters is almost a 
year. Three months had been consumed in their march to 
Sinai. Here the nation was formally organized, and we 
will do well tarry at this point until we study the constitu- 
tion and laws of the Hebrew government. This will carry 
us over the remaining books of the Pentateuch which con- 
tain civil and religious ordinances commingled and reiter- 
ated. It shall be our effort to select from these enough to 
illustrate fairly the different phases of the Mosaic economy 
and to group them in such way that their underlying prin- 
ciples and application may appear. 

Retrospective. — Before entering upon the fuller study of 
the development of the nation it will be well to review some 
of the fundamental principles of biblical interpretation. 

1. The Bible is a record of God's plan to bring the 
world back to fellowship with himself and hence to life. 
All legal complications have been removed in a divine sub- 
stitute and the line of education is to induce in man a will- 
ingness to accept the substitute. 

2. It is essential to this end that God be presented as 
supreme, just, loving, merciful^ and intimately related to 
human affairs. 

3. The human race was sunk in idolatry, superstition^ 
wickedness, and was naturally repelled by holiness. They 
were utterly incapable of understanding the plan clearly 
enough to have faith in it. 



86 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

4. Therefore, God undertakes to educate his chosen na- 
tion through providential object lessons. These lessons 
are directed toward the development of right ideas of God. 

5. It was also necessary to develop the natural powers 
which would enable the nation to compete successfully 
with neighboring nations. In fact, Israel was but a child, 
undeveloped in every capacity and with a strong natural 
predisposition to follow the devices of the nations around 
her. 

6. God's teaching must be interpreted in the light of 
the purpose to be attained and the mental, moral, and phy- 
sical conditions of the Hebrews. This makes some other- 
wise inexplicable providences and laws easy to understand. 
It must be remembered all the while that God acts through 
the ordinary laws of nature and society unless some spe- 
cial occasion or special condition renders supernatural in- 
tervention necessary. 

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 

A moral law pertains to the rightness and oughtness of 
human conduct. Whatever duty man owes to God or to 
his fellowman comes under the moral code. The ten com- 
mandments are an epitomized expression of the demands 
of holiness on every individual in the universe. Moral gov- 
ernment is government by moral law. Every fact of God's 
providential dealings with the human race comes within 
his moral government, and hence must be in conformity 
to moral law. Every relation that man sustains to God or 
to man ought to be in accordance with that same law. Na- 
tions and men are alike subject to it, and both will be judg- 
ed by its standards. 

ANALYSIS OF EXODUS, 19:1-20:17. 

I. God becomes king of the nation. Ex. 19: 1-9. 
(i) They come to Sinai. 19: 1-2. 
(2) God's proposition. 19: 3-6. 



IN THE BIBLE. 87 

• 

(3) The people's answer. 19: 7-9. 
II. God reveals himself to Israel. Ex. 19: 10-25 : 
(i) The people prepared. 19: 10-15 . 

(2) God's presence on the mountain.. 19: 16-18. 

(3) God sends Moses to warn the people. 19: 

I9;25. 
III. Moses receives the Ten Commandments. Ex. 20: 
1-17. 
(i) Preamble. 20: 1-2. 

(2) The first Table of the Law. 20: 3-1 1. 

(3) The second Table. 20: 12-17. 

The Intent of the Law. — ^The place the law fills in the di- 
vine economy appears when we recall the purpose of God in 
the nation. The intent of the law was to eradicate idolatry 
which was the dominant worship of the world. It teaches 
the unity of God and man's duty to God and to man. The 
Israelites were sinking rapidly into polytheism. Paul says 
"the law was added because of transgressions.'^ Gal. 3: 19. 
The central thought of the Patriarchal dispensation was 
the unity of God and man's duty to him. It was to this 
that the law was added because of the transgression of po- 
lytheism and idolatry. The law was an educator to bring 
them to Christ. The force and application of these points 
will appear in the further discussion of the Hebrew code. 

The Original Contract of the Hebrew Government. — God 
did not settle a form of government on the people inde- 
pendent of their will. He respects man's free agency here 
as fully as he does in his offer of salvation to the sinner. 
He consults the will of the people. God is supreme in the 
affairs of nations and men, but he has made over to man a 
certain freedom of activity. A nation does as it pleases, 
frames such la\vs as it pleases, establishes such form of 
government as it pleases, and may expect to enjoy bless- 
ings for what is right but must suffer punishment for what 



88 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

is wrong. In harmony with this principle the Hebrews 
accepted God as their supreme ruler Ex. 19: 3-9. God 
made a proposition to become their king on certain condi- 
tions. They accepted the conditions and entered into the 
covenant as the party of the second part. Israel became 
God's peculiar property. The whole world was under the 
moral government of God, for as creator his dominion em- 
braces all nations of the earth; but Israel by her own free 
choice stood in a different relation to him. In virtue of 
this relationship God instituted a form of government for 
them and gave them a code of laws. 

The Contents of the Ten Commandments. — The Decalogue 
is civil in its application as well as moral. Four commands 
embody the requirements of holiness in man's relation to 
God and the remaining six, in his relation to his fellowman. 
All caste was abolished in the covenant by which God be- 
came their ruler. The unity of God is made one of the 
fundamental principles of the nation. When nations have 
legislated on religion they have made it a means to the 
end, — good government. In the Hebrew nation religion 
was the end and good government a means to that end. 
In this light the civil character of the moral law is appar- 
ent, and many other provisions of the Hebrew polity, oth- 
erwise hard to understand, become plain. Every law that 
abridges personal freedom without a corresponding gen- 
eral advantage is an infringement on civil liberty. God de- 
signed that his nation enjoy civil liberty and the Mosaic 
code of laws stands, yet a marvel to the political world in 
its happy adaptation of general advantage to individual re- 
striction. 

A Written Law Necessary. — That which is imperfect and 
corrupt cannot evolve a perfect and pure ideal. Man's only 
hope of an ideal character with which he can square his 
own must lie in a supernatural revelation of it. Rightness 



IN THE BIBLE. 89 

or wrongness, per se, is not related to human conscience. 
A consensus of opinion is not an infallible criterion of con- 
duct. Moral character is independent of human existence 
for God and angels have moral character. God's activity 
is an expression of his character. That which is in har- 
mony with the attributes of God is right; and all that is 
not in harmony with God is wrong. God^s character, 
therefore, becomes the only true criterion of virtue. A 
man's activity is the expression of his character and it re- 
ceives its moral value from the attitude of the character 
toward or away from God. Thus the divine character is 
the basal point of every true system of ethics. It therefore, 
follows that formal ethics, if true, must rest on the revela- 
tion of God as given in the Bible, for only there have we 
an expression of God's moral attributes. This revelation 
places the moral code on an unchanging basis. Although 
the data from which the principles of any human code are 
formulated may have been gathered from the whole his- 
tory of the race and subjected to the most careful scrutiny 
and profound generalization, yet the truth stands that the 
absolute standard to which the last analysis must reduce 
them cannot be found in man. 

But there is a human side to the law. The moral sense 
is a factor in the psychological constitution of man. It 
is to be expected, therefore, that the Mosaic code be in har- 
mony with the laws of mental and moral development in 
the human race as well as with God's character. The Bible 
might be made an advanced text-book on Psychology, for 
in it we have infinite wisdom adapting conditions to the de- 
velopment of the mental and moral life. It is also the best 
book extant on the theory and practice of teaching. The 
development of character from childhood to manhood is 
strikingly parallel to the development of the Hebrew na- 



90 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

tion and a deep study of the one helps us to understand 
the other. 

Advantages of a Written Law, — The advantages of a writ- 
ten law are very great. Not only did the Decalogue give 
to man a true and unchangeable criterion of conduct but, 
when expanded and applied in the statutes of the Mosaic 
code, enforced upon him a line of conduct in keeping with 
it. It is due to this law that the Hebrew economy did not 
afterward sink to the low plane of that of their heathen 
neighbors, even when they rivalled them in idolatrous 
practices. Thus the moral law was a great conservative 
element in their national life. 

This lofty standard alone was not adequate to mould the 
Hebrew character. Its provisions, therefore, were re-en- 
acted and such penalties were attached to each statute as 
would enforce obedience to it. This would produce a habit 
of obedience which would predispose to virtue. No 
thoughtful observer of human life has failed to notice that 
compliance with any regulation, although forced, has a re- 
flex influence on character. Even an attitude of body 
when merely assumed has an immediate influence on the 
mental attitude. Penalty thus becomes an essential ele- 
ment in an educative law. 

The Character of the Law .The purpose of the law was to 
develop a right character in man. Now a prerequisite to 
this development is to present the ideal. But it requires 
high intellectual culture to appreciate an ideal when pre- 
sented abstractly. To make it intelligible to all minds of 
all ages God gives this ideal in the form of concrete pro- 
positions, commonly called the Ten Commandments. They 
express man's duty so clearly that no reader can misunder- 
stand them, and yet deep and prolonged study fails to ex- 
haust their fullness of meaning. Underneath the plain sim- 
ple duties they inculcate lie those basal principles of ac- 



IN THE BIBLE. 91 

tivity which originate in the character of God and to which 
the actions of a holy God conform. They at once become 
the true criterion of human conduct in virtue of the fact 
that man was made in the image of God. They are not 
corrective of vice so much as a criterion of virtue. They 
are not laws in the proper sense, for no penalty is attached. 
They are adapted to every age and to every condition of 
mankind. 

The first table wisely inculcates a profound sentiment 
of piety. This is the basis of all morality of a permanent 
character and of all human virtue. The second table re- 
veals to the world the great underlying principles of man's 
relation to man. It touches every department of human 
activity. No righteous law of any code, however extend- 
ed and minute it may be, can contain a requirement that 
does not repose securely in the Decalogue. Laws of life 
property, chastity, character, flow naturally from it. It is 
adapted to all the past and to the remotest future. 

The Mosaic Code a Development. — The fundamental law of 
the Hebrew nation was given from Mount Sinai, but the 
developed economy was a growth. When the Tabernacle 
was erected God could be approached in it. He could 
there be consulted on affairs highly important and of na- 
tional import. As occasion demanded a new law was given 
or an old one expanded to meet changed conditions. Hu- 
man environments change. It is these environments that 
determine the direction the evil impulses will take and 
sometimes furnish temptation to excite the impulse. Each 
age and each country has its own peculiar environments. 
This accounts for the fact that special enactments of one 
epoch of Hebrew history were changed in another epoch 
and that this age and this country could not judiciously en- 
force all the laws of the ancient Hebrews. The principles 
have not changed; it is simply a change in specific enact- 



92 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

merits to insure that the influence under changed condi- 
tions will bring activity to comply with the principle. 

The first commandment is one of the underlying princi- 
ples of the divine government: "^Thou shalt have no other 
gods before me." This does not change and is as ap- 
plicable now as then. In Lev. 19: 2y we have a specific 
enactment against cutting the hair and beard in a certain 
manner. This is a matter altogether indifferent in itself. But 
when we learn that certain idolatrous tribes considered that 
a certain manner of shaving the face and head rendered 
worship of their idols at least more acceptable, the point in 
the law appears. The Israelite fell easily into idolatry. 
If he were allowed to conform to the heathen practice he 
v/ould fall easily into the heathen superstition. Therefore 
the law as an educator would restrain him from many 
things, which, though harmless in themselves, would 
nevertheless produce a wrong development. The same 
point is illustrated by the law against boiling the flesh of 
a kid in its dam^s milk, against wearing garments of mixed 
wool and flax^ against sowing mixed seed, etc. 

But enforced obedience, while it helps, will never lead to 
the highest virtue. The law must appeal to the sensibili- 
ties as well. Woven into the concrete enactments we 
find promises, entreaties, expostulations and rebukes. 
These were emphasized throughout the history of the na- 
tion by the providences of God and by his prophets. They 
touch the human heart by revealing the deep interest an(i 
more than human sympathy of the Law-Giver. The Judge 
and the culprit are at peace, and even the executioner is 
recognized as a minister of mercy. 

THE HEBREW CRIMINAL CODE. 

The law of the Ten Commandments was the fundament- 
al or constitutional law of the Hebrew nation. After it 
was adopted the provisions of it were re-enacted and equiv- 



IN THE BIBLE. 93 

alent punishments inserted. These statutory laws were 
given at different times and, therefore, are to be found in- 
terwoven in the earlier history of the nation. It shall be 
our effort to classify them under appropriate headings that 
we may the better apprehend their scope and application. 

Criminal law is that department of jurisprudence which 
treats of violations of public law. Offenses against the 
public are treasons, felonies and misdemeanors. Treason 
is an offense against the state. A misdemeanor and a fel- 
ony differ only in degree; they consist in offenses against 
the public or the persons and property of individuals. Some 
of these are distinguished as mala in se, i. e.^ crimes notori- 
ously immoral and injurious to the public ; and as mala pro- 
hibita, i. e., acts which are made offenses by enactment 
without which they would be morally indifferent. 

Laws on Treason. — Treason, we have said, is an offense 
against the state. Every government gives a specific limi- 
tation to crimes that may be called treason. In the United 
States it consists only in levying war against the nation or 
adhering to her enemies. English law makes it treason to 
kill the king or the chancellor, to levy war against the na- 
tion, and several other crimes, which, if successful, would 
interfere with the regular succession of the throne. Any 
act may be called treason when the influence of it tends 
to thwart the purposes of the government, provided there 
is reasonable prospect of success. In a savage tribe where 
the government is simply to advance the interests of the 
chief, any crime against his person or property would be 
treason. Where the purpose of the nation is the highest 
good of her citizens nothing is treason which can be shown 
to be to the real advantage of the people. Now the pur- 
pose of the Hebrew government was to conserve the pure 
worlhip of Jehovah. Therefore^ anything was treason 



94 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

which corrupted this worship or had an influence to lead 
the people into idolatry. 
I. Idolatry. 

(i) Death penalty. Ex. 22\ 20; Deut. 13: 5-15; 17: 
2-5; 30- 17-18. 

(2) Examples. Ex. 32: 25-29; Num. 25: 4-5. 

(3) Idol worship forbidden. Ex. 22: 13-24; Deut. 
5: 7; 7: 26; II: 16-17; 12: 29-31; 28: 14; 29: 18. 

(4) Idol-making forbidden. Ex. 20: 23; Deut. 4: 
16-23; 5: 8-10. 

(5) Nation destroyed for idolatry. Deut. 4: 25-26; 
6: 14-15; 8: 19-20. 

11. Witchcraft. 

(i) Witchcraft forbidden. Lev. 19: 26-31; Deut. 

18: 10-12. 
(2) Death penalty. Ex. 22: 18; Lev. 26'. 6, 2y. 
III. Blasphemy. Lev. 24:11-16 

These Crimes Treason. — While the above is by no means 
all the references to these subjects, they will serve to il- 
lustrate the position of the Hebrew government on the 
subject of treason. The people by a solemn contract had 
chosen God to be their king and had willingly subscribed 
to their national constitution. This constitution was de- 
signed and formulated to make the nation God-fearing 
and God-serving. Idolatry was an attempt to dethrone 
their king, or at least to divide the homage and fealty due 
him with another. There could not be a more directly 
treasonable act. No king would suffer it and no nation, 
not even the United States, would permit her citizens to 
pursue a course which would thwart the very purpose of 
her constitution. That death is the legitimate punishment 
of treason is the verdict of nations. 

Witchcraft and idolatry were kindred crimes in the He- 
brew code. Witchcraft was a direct appeal to another than 



IN THE BIBLE. 95 

God for direction and help in matters made over to him in 
their fundamental law. It does not matter what view we 
may entertain in regard to the whole question of witch- 
craft; all will admit that the people did believe in witches, 
and the inquiry is not relevant here whether they were led 
to that belief by sleight of hand or bona fide power. In 
either case the national crime was the same. It was a di- 
rect repudiation of their original contract with God. -In 
it they denied his supreme sovereignty and ascribed powers 
which belong alone to God to agencies independent of him. 
The effect of such a course is very apparent. It was a long 
step toward idolatry and toward a final and complete over- 
throw of their national policy. Indeed the sin of witch- 
craft and idolatry are classed together. The treasonable 
character of it appears in i Sam. 15: 23. "For rebellion is 
as the sin of witchcraft and stubbornness is as iniquity and 
idolatry." 

Laws on Murder. — The first law relating to the sanctity 
of human life was given to Noah shortly after he left the 
ark. We have seen that it was an influence to effect po- 
litical organization. The Mosaic code does not minimize 
its importance. It is very full and explicit in defining the 
different degrees of murder and the judicial procedure best 
adapted to secure the ends of justice. Most nations have 
made murder a capital offense. It is common to base ar- 
guments against capital punishment on the general prin- 
ciples of Christian charity. These principles can apply 
only in so far as the prosecution and the execution are con- 
cerned. No feeling of revenge should actuate any one in 
the detection and punishment of crime. There is nothing 
in the teaching of Christ to condemn this penalty. The 
'eye' for eye" and "tooth for tooth" laws were not de- 
nounced as principles of justice when executed by the pro- 
per authorities, but only as excuses for revenge. If the 



96 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

death penalty is the only one that will protect society it is 
perfectly right to inflict it; if other penalties less severe 
fully meet the case under the conditions of the present age 
the death penalty ought to be abolished. In our govern- 
ment each state determines this question for itself. Iowa 
abolished it in 1874 and restored it in 1878 because of the 
large increase of crimes of violence. Other states that 
abolished it have not found it necessary to restore it. There 
is no doubt, however, that at the time of the establishment 
of the Mosaic economy capital punishment was the best 
penalty for several crimes, one of which was murder. 

I. The death penalty for murder. Ex. 21: 12-14; Deut. 
27: 24-26; Deut. 19: 11-13; Num. 35; 16-21 . 
II. Judicial procedure. 

1. At least two witnesses required. Num. 35: 30; 

Deut. 17: 6. 

2. The killing not intentional. Num. 35: 22-25; 

Deut. 19: 4-6; Josh. 20: 4-6. 

3. Cities of refuge. Ex. 21: 13; Num. 35: 6-15; 

Deut. 4: 41-43; 19: i-io; Josh. 20: 2-9. 

4. Disposition of the body. Deut. 21 : 22-23. 

5. Expiation of a murder perpetrated by an un- 
known hand. Deut. 21 : 1-9. 

The Character of These Laws. — It will be seen at once 
that these laws on murder gave no license to cruelty or 
vindictiveness. They were designed for the well-being of 
society. Such restrictions were laid upon the state as would 
insure an impartial trial to the accused and ample provision 
was made for his safety until his case had been decided, 
the nearest of kin was made the executioner. This was 
in conformity with the practice of all nations at that time. 
But the delay in the execution rendered necessary by the 
judicial procedure would allow passion to subside, and the 



IN THE BIBLE. 97 

humane treatment of the prisoner would modify very much 
any disposition to cruelty or brutality. 

Law of Assault. — Ex. 21: 18-25; Lev. 24: 19-20. These 
laws have been called the ''lex talionis." If they are to be 
construed as a license to private vengeance nothing would 
be more potent to destroy the peace and safety of society or 
conduce more to foster the spirit of hatred and revenge. 
But such construction is abhorrent to the whole tenor of 
Mosiac legislation. It was the duty of the public judiciary 
power to adjudge each case and the public executive power 
to inflict the penalty. It is worthy of note that the law did 
not command the injured party to require the punishment. 
He had a natural right to remit it or to accept whatever 
pecuniary compensation the culprit and he should agree 
upon. Num. 35: 31 excludes murder from the catalogue 
of crimes for which satisfaction might be taken. The law 
speaks to the perpetrator of the wrong, and Christ, in the 
Sermon on the Mount, speaks to the injured person, for- 
bidding him to plead the Mosiac law as a justification of 
his own vindictiveness. 

The Hebrew Civil Code. — We use the term civil law as 
the opposite of criminal law. It relates to conduct in the 
ordinary business and social relations of life. It also in- 
cludes those duties which the citizen owes to the state, 
such as his obligation to support it by the payment of tax- 
es, etc. We include under this head laws to which criminal 
punishments were not affixed. These embody the great 
mass of the statutes of a nation and we shall examine only 
a few lines of Mosiac legislation, believing that this will be 
sufficient to give a general idea of the whole economy of 
civil jurisprudence. 

Laws on Usury. — Ex. 22: 25; Deut. 23: 19-20; Lev. 25: 
35"37- The biblical use of the term "usury" is not re- 
stricted to an exorbitant interest. The laws of Moses for- 



98 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

bade all interest. Any other interpretation of them is 
forced. But is the taking of interest wrong in itself? Cer- 
tainly not^ but it may be wrong relatively. No change 
in social conditions since the time of Moses can justify an 
exorbitant rate of interest. Where money, however, is 
loaned to men in easy circumstances, and for the purpose 
of investment in a paying enterprise, part of the income is 
justly due the lenders. But where a brother or a neighbor 
is hard pressed and needs the money to relieve distress, the 
law of Moses is still the law of the Christian. 

Laws on Servitude. — Many times have the advocates of 
slavery attempted to justify it by an appeal to the Mosiac 
institutions. An examination of these laws reveals the 
fact that Hebrew servitude was not slavery in the ordinary 
acceptance of that term. Opponents of slavery whose de- 
votion to the Bible is not very great and whose knowledge 
of its fundamental principles is not at all profound have 
not been slow to criticise the Mosaic code in this particular. 
And yet it is manifestly unfair to test Hebrew legislation 
by the standard of Christian ethics. It was divine in its 
origin and educative in intent and application. The pur- 
poses of the laws would have been defeated had they been 
so far in advance of the sentiments of the age as to have 
met with no response from the people. God proposed to 
make the rulers of the nation his ministers to execute the 
law. Had the law been far beyond the sentiment of the 
time it could not have been enforced except by continual 
miracle. Christ told the Jews that Moses allowed certain 
tilings because of the hardness of their hearts. The sys- 
tem of servitude was so restricted and conditioned that it 
was shorn of much of its horror. The whole legislation on 
this subject looked to the complete abolition of it in the fu- 
ture. 

I. Not properly slavery. Lev. 25: 43; Deut. 24: 7. 



IN THE BIBLE. 99 

II. Sold for theft. Ex. 22: 2-3 

III. Sold for poverty for six years, or less if the year of 

jubilee came sooner. Ex. 21: 1-4; Lev. 25: 
39-42; Deut. 15: 12-18. 

IV. For more than six years. Ex. 21 : 5-6; Lev. 25: 10; 

Deut. 15: 16-17. 
V. Sold to foreigners. Lev 25: 47-55 

VI. Penalty for abuse of bond servant. Ex. 21 : 20-21, 
26-27. 
VII. Hebrew servitude aboHshed. Jer. 34: 8-20 . 
VIII. Attempt to revive it. Neh. 5: 1-12. 

IX. The law of slaves of foreign descent Lev. 25: 
44-46; Ex. 21: 16. 

Effect of These Laws. — ^These laws reduced the profits of 
slave-holding very much; they robbed it of the cruelties 
and horrors of modern slavery; they limited the traffic in 
slaves so much that there was little inducement to engage 
in it. When the time came and the moral sense of the na- 
tion was educated to it^ the whole system was abolished. 
Nehemiah then could rely on the moral support of the peo- 
ple in his effort to keep it from again fastening itself on 
the nation. 

Land Laws. — The code of Moses made the Israelites an 
agricultural people. The glory of other nations was their 
standing armies or their power to subdue all enemies. The 
laws of Plato and Aristotle required the slaves to till the 
land. The Hebrew agrarian laws proceed on the fact now 
well established that the poHcy of small land-holders is 
more conducive to industry, frugality and beneficence than 
a landed aristocracy and martial glory. Disciplined intel- 
ligence and individual prosperity are found related to the 
calm dignity of the domestic circle. Agriculture has an 
influence to cherish a spirit of sympathy and equality. 
Caste-distinction will not exist in a nation of farm-owners. 

LofC. 



100 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

The laws, therefore, provided that the farms revert to the 
original owner or to his heirs, at stated times. 

I. Every family to have land. Num. 26: 51-54. 
II. To revert to owner. Lev. 25: 23-28. 

III. Land not to pass from one tribe to another Num. 

36: 1-9. 

IV. Inheritance of daughters. Num. 27:1-11. 

These laws were conservative. Their operation would be 
against radicalism and revolution. They are wise in the 
light of the highest interests of any nation; but when it is 
remembered that this particular nation was called to pre- 
serve and transmit to succeeding ages a pure and spiritual 
religion their importance is emphasized. In the palmiest 
days of the Hebrew state the husbandman was honored 
and influential. It was the mercantile spirit that in later 
years sapped the vitality of the nation and introduced a 
luxury which plunged the Israelites into a low state of mor- 
als. 

There are many other laws to which reference might 
be made. We simply cite a few to complete our illustra- 
tion of Hebrew legislation: 

1. Honesty in traffic. Lev. 25: 14-17; 2y\ 25. 

2. Millstone not to be taken as pledge. Deut. 24: 6. 

3. Pledged raiment. Ex. 22: 26-27; Deut. 24: 12-13. 

4. Charity commanded. Deut. 15: 7-1 1. 

5. False report. Ex. 23: i; Lev. 19: 16. 

6. Hatred and revenge forbidden. Lev. 19: 17-18. 

7. Lost property. Ex. 23: 4-5. 

8. Strangers. Ex. 22: 21; 23: 9; Lev. 19: 33-34. 

The laws on social purity are so far in advance of what 
the world then knew that there is no comparison between 
the position of the Hebrew women and the women of 
heathen nations. The curse of idol worship appears more 



IN THE BIBLE. 101 

plainly in woman's position in those countries where poly- 
theism prevails than in any other one thing. 

1. The Hebrew women might go unveiled. Gen. 12: 14; 

24: 16-25; 39: II. 

2. She might go alone. Deut. 22:25, 2^. 

3. She might converse in public. Gen. 24: 24, 45, 47; 

29: 9-12. 

4. Appear in court. Num. 27: 2. 

The Hebrew Code Humane. — No system of laws of any 
nation of antiquity will bear comparison with the Mosiac 
code in mildness and humanity of punishments. Only four 
classes of crimes were punishable with death, viz. : treason, 
murder, deliberate abuse of parents, and horrid crimes 
against social purity. The wisest legislation of modern 
times vindicates the punishment for treason and murder^ 
and there is strong probability that many states of our na- 
tion will affix capital punishment to the last named crime 
in the near future. Let those who criticise the severity of 
the Mosiac code look at the laws that command benevo- 
lence, generosity, respect for the aged and weak, the or- 
phan and the stranger, forgetfulness of injuries. Servants 
and even animals were protected by laws which secured to 
them justice and kindness. It is impossible that a semi- 
barbarous nation should devise a system so refined, so 
complete and so just. It was divine in its origin. 

The Laws Adapted to the Times. — The laws of Moses 
were perfectly adapted to the nation at that time. The 
partial toleration of social evils does not weigh against the 
theory of their divine origin. Wines gives the following 
illustration in, his Laws of the Ancient Hebrews: "Let us 
suppose that a perfectly wise man were now to receive full 
authority to legislate for China. Would he frame a code of 
laws for the government of that empire, irrespective of 
the ancient customs, the cherished opinions, and the root- 



102 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

ed prejudices of the nation, which are strong in the gather- 
ed strength of revolving centuries? Such a procedure 
would stamp him a fool instead of a sage; and it would in- 
evitably defeat his best intentions. A truly wise law giver 
would study the character and circumstances of the people. 
He would respect, and to a certain extent, even flatter their 
prejudices. He would limit where he could not remove; 
modify, where he could not reverse; ameliorate where he 
could not perfect; and so by degrees would prepare the 
nation for improvements in the system of government more 
radical than he would venture to propose as first." 

THE HEBREW GOVERNMENT. 

The Hebrew government is a subject worthy of earnest 
and prolonged study. Although specially designed for a 
particular people and a certain purpose, yet it rests on 
principle as old as the race and as deep as human nature. 
It brings the basal principles of true government to the 
light for the first time. They are fundamental to righteous 
government of any age or any people. National unity 
was secured by adherence to the principle of equal rights, 
and caste was abolished by the same principle. Civil lib- 
erty restrained natural liberty only in so far as was neces- 
ary for the public good. Every one was protected in the 
enjoyment of his natural rights so long as he did not en- 
croach on the rights of others. Not only was equality be- 
fore the law secured to the Hebrew citizen, but political 
equality as well. All stood on an exact level; no nation of 
any time has enjoyed a more perfect community of rights 
and dignities. Space permits only a brief review of the po- 
litical aspect of the Mosaic economy, but it is a subject 
worthy of more extended study. 

God's Relation to the Nation. — At the organization of the 
nation the people chose God to be their supreme ruler. 



IN THE BIBLE. 103 

Moses, Joshua, the Judges and Kings were all subordinate 
to him. There is no doubt that God's plan provided for 
a human chief magistrate. In obedience to God's com- 
mand Moses ordained his successor. Num. 27: 18-23. In 
2 Sam. 7: II God says: ''1 commanded judges to be over 
my people Israel." God directed in the choice of the lines 
of kings. But none of these officers were supreme^ and 
the success of the administration of each was commensur- 
ate with his faithfulness in the execution of God's com- 
mands. 

The relation of God to the Hebrew nation has no 
parallel in history. It can be understood when viewed in 
the light of the divine purpose in the nation. In their ear- 
lier history God legislated and administered the law di- 
rectly. When their code was far toward completion he 
could be consulted only on questions of national import- 
ance. He was consulted on very difficult judicial matters 
on which the law was not explicit. Num. 9 : 6-12, 15 : 32-36; 
2y: i-ii. He was consulted on questions which involved 
their relation to other nations, especially with reference to 
war and the distribution of the spoils of battle. It has been 
argued that God's relation to Israel is a copy of the heath- 
en oracle. The first account we have in secular history of 
heathen oracles were those established in Egypt by 
King Sesac. He established three, one at Thebes, 
one at Ammon and one in Ethiopia, with the express 
purpose of deifying his father, Ammon. This was 400 
years after the exodus. The oldest Greek oracle was Do- 
dona, which was set up by an Egyptian woman after the 
pattern of the one in Thebes. It is far more reasonable 
that the heathen oracles were suggested by God's peculiar 
relation of his chosen people. The heathen oracle was 
made a matter of revenue, while no money consideration 
could be offered to the Hebrew oracle; it could only be 



104 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

approached with reverence and on questions of national 
import; they could be approached on matters of individual 
advantage and without reverence. God maintained this 
relation to the nation whether they recognized it or not, but 
he committed to them the burden of the administration 
of the laws he had given them. The importance of God's 
relation to the Hebrew nation cannot be overestimated. It 
was the sole cause of the difference between them and oth- 
er nations. I^agan nations had only human reason to guide 
them, while Israel had divine wisdom. The mind of pro- 
phet, priest, judge, law- giver and king were all illuminated 
from the same divine source. It was this relation to God 
that liberalized their institutions, purified the national 
heart, elevated the morals and enlightened the intellect. 

The National Congress. — The duties of the officers of the 
Hebrew nation were different from those of like officers in 
modern governments. We do not mean by the national 
congress that they had a senate and legislature, or a house 
of lords and a house of commons in exactly the sense we 
understand these terms to-day. But they evidently had 
officers whose duties included those we now delegate to 
these branches of government. 

I. The Seventy Elders. — The children of Israel had offi- 
cers before the exodus. Ex. 3: 16; 4: 29. Moses ad- 
dressed them not as chiefs of tribes but as elders of Israel. 
Ex. 12: 21-28. There were also heads of families. Ex. 
6: 14-27. There were fifty-eight of these heads of clans. 
Num. 26'. 1-57. One chief from each tribe added to these 
makes up the number seventy. It seems that while yet in 
Egypt these princes of tribes and heads of families were 
the officers of a sort of provisional government. The re- 
tort of the slave to Moses, "Who made thee a prince and 
a judge over us?" indicates that they were clothed with 
some authority. Even thus early in their history the tribes 



IN THE BIBLE. 105 

were related as a nation and not independent clans. These 
seventy were summoned to go up into the mountain with 
Moses and Aaron at the giving of the law. Ex. 24: i. 
Num. 10: 4 verifies the fact that these officers were an or- 
ganized council of state. All these references relate to a 
period of their history before this department of their gov- 
ernment was specially organized by Moses. But the gov- 
ernment was reorganized upon a different basis when it 
formally elected God to be supreme ruler. Therefore these 
officers were part of the old government carried over into 
the new. The account of the special and formal legisla- 
tion of it with an outline of duties and powers is found in 
Num. 11: 10-30. No change was made in the membership 
of the body at this time, for it is said "'And Moses went out 
and told the people the words of the Lord and gathered 
the seventy men of the elders of the people and set them 
round about the tabernacle." 

2. The Lower House. — The question is pertinent, Did 
the people act directly or through representatives? There 
are many expressions in the Bible that would indicate that 
the government was purely democratic. We often read of 
the "Congregation," the "Congregation of Israel," "All the 
Children of Israel," and the "Whole Congregation of the 
Lord." Authorities differ in regard to whether these terms 
are to be interpreted as meaning the people individually or 
the people through representatives. The -weight of evidence 
we believe to be on the side of a representative govern- 
ment. 

(i) We have no mention of any means for maintaining 
order and for counting the votes of the 600,000 male Is- 
raelites eligible to vote on questions put to the assembly 
by Moses or the elders. 

(2) Moses is represented as speaking to the whole con- 
gregation. Six hundred thousand could not hear him. In 
Deut. 29: 9, it would mean 2,500,000. 



106 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

(3) The 250 persons who opposed Moses must have 
had greater than ordinary influence. The account becomes 
plain if we understand them to be representatives. Then 
the whole nation was against him. Num. 16:1-35. The 
same thought appears in Josh. 23: 2; 24: i. It is highly 
probable that there was a representative body directly re- 
lated to the people and a senate of elders and princes whose 
office was tribal representation. The jurisdiction of the 
congregation through its representatives extended to civil 
and criminal cases. Num. o.'j: 1-9; 35: 24-25. Ecclesiastic- 
al affairs were also somewhat under the control of this 
body. I Chron. 13: 2-4. 

But the laws of the Mosaic code were not enacted inde- 
pendently of the congregation. Deut. 4:1-2 would seem 
to indicate that the law was given to them complete, al- 
lowing no addition or change. This is true in so far as 
the fundamental principles on which the law was based are 
concerned. Changes in condition, however, require a 
change in laws, but never a change in the principles of law. 
After God had given the laws to Moses he required a form- 
al indorsement of them by the people. Ex. 24: 3-8. When 
the code had been further enlarged and before the death 
of Moses he called together the representatives of the na- 
tion, rehearsed the laws in their hearing and recei 'cd an- 
other formal indorsement of them. Deut. 29:9-13. In Josh. 
24: 1-28 we have another instance of the indorsement of the 
laws by the people. 

Officers elected hy the people. — The citizens of the Hebrew 
nation enjoyed the privilege of elective franchise. In 
this way their officers became ministers of the people in the 
true sense. This is illustrated in their choice of God to be 
king. The same principle was observed when the office 
of Judges was instituted. Deut. i: 13. The only divine 



IN THE BIBLE. 107 

reservation was to commission those whom the people 
should elect. When the seventy were chosen to assist Mo- 
ses they were chosen by the people and ordaind by God. A 
few illustrations of this point we think sufficient to estab- 
lish it. 

When Samuel anointed Saul to be king it was with the 
intent that he might make what mental and spiritual pre- 
paration he could for the high office. The choice was not 
made public until Samuel called the people together, and 
then God indicated his election by the lot. But a strong 
minority of the people were opposed to the choice, and Saul 
returned to his home a private citizen, yet a candidate for 
the office. When an emergency arose and he had demon- 
strated his fitness for the position, another assembly was 
called and he was chosen by unanimous vote. Not until 
after this was it said of Saul, 'They made him king.'' 
David, although anointed of God, did not assume any king- 
ly prerogatives until the people had acquiesced in God's 
choice. It was some time before all the tribes recognized 
his authority, but until they did David did not assume any 
control of them. The same point is illustrated in the eleva- 
tion of Rehoboam, or rather in the revolt of the ten tribes. 
Many other like occasions might be cited. This princi- 
ple of suffrage was helpful to the nation in that it clothed 
the law and the officers of it with the authority both of God 
and the people. There was nothing despotic in it. By 
it the state was constituted a moral creature with the full 
exercise of free agency. They promised to shun what was 
hurtful and to submit to what was helpful to the body po- 
litic, and God engaged to recompense them with prosperi- 
ty. 

The relation of the Tribes. — The tribes were not independ- 
ent of one another nor held together by a compact which 
might be nullified at pleasure. Each tribe was sovereign 



108 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

in many particulars, but they were component parts of the 
national unity. Jealousies did exist among them from time 
to time. Civil war was precipitated when the tribe of Ben- 
jamin attempted to withdraw from the nation. The his- 
tory of this event is recorded in Judges, chapters 19 and 20. 
When the authorities of the tribe of Benjamin refused to 
surrender to punishment those who had violated the laws 
of hospitality and had committed a criminal offense the 
matter became one of national importance. It was simply 
rebellion against the general government. Orders were 
issued, an army raised and Benjamin punished. The tribe 
was thoroughly humiliated and brought to acknowledge 
her allegiance to the nation. 

THE LEVITICAL CODE. 

The purpose of the ceremonial law was to lead men to 
rely on the atoning work of a substitute for justification. 
The criminal and civil codes were governmental and had 
only an indirect reference to religion. The moral law takes 
precedence of all others, for it embodies the immutable 
principles of righteous conduct. "By the law is the knowl- 
edge of sin." Its effect would be to show man the need 
of a Savior. It has no direct reference to Christ. The ef- 
fect of the ceremonial law was to educate man to the perfec- 
tion embodied in the moral law. Briefly then, the moral law 
revealed man's unrighteousness and the ceremonial law re- 
vealed the fact that righteousness might be secured through 
a substitute. Then as now ''Christ is the end of the law 
for righteousness to every one that believeth." The im- 
portance of an elaborate ceremonial code cannot be over- 
estimated. The Hebrews were but children in the knowl- 
edge of God, utterly unable to grasp the deep meaning of 
substitution before God, when expressed literally. They 
could come to know holiness and sinfulness only through 
objective experiences; they could be held to the observance 



IN THE BIBLE. 109 

of true worship only when it had something tangible in it. 
The instructions in regard to the ceremonies of their reli- 
gion are very minute in detail. A careful study reveals that 
every requirement was perfectly adapted to the religious 
culture of the Hebrew people. We shall notice the more 
prominent institutions of the economy, to discover the 
trend of the teaching of their institutions and their adapta- 
tion to God's purpose. 

The Tabernacle. — The nation received its fundamental 
law from Sinai, and at Sinai, Moses was given specific di- 
rections in regard to building a tabernacle for God in their 
camp. There was danger that the formality of their wor- 
ship would rob it of the spirit. This would be specially 
true when they should remove far from the mountain where 
they had witnessed the awful manifestation of divinity at 
the giving of the law. Nothing will insure spiritual wor- 
ship except a sense of the immediate presence of God. The 
forms were necessary because of their educative influence, 
but there is always danger in formality. To avoid this 
danger God instituted the tabernacle as the place of his 
visible abode among the Children of Israel. They carried 
it with them wherever they went. When they reached the 
promised land they located it permanently at Shiloh. No 
one knows what eventually became of it. The Ark was 
once taken from them by the Philistines, but finally found 
its resting place in Solomon's temple. It may have been 
carried to Babylon or destroyed with the temple. It was 
designed for a special time and a special purpose. When 
conditions which demanded its construction changed it 
disappears from the biblical record. 

I. Command to build the tabernacle. Ex. 25 : 1-9. 
II. Dimensions of the court. Ex. 27: 13, 18; 38: 13. 

III. Hangings for the walls and pillars. Ex. 27: 9-14. 
38: 9-19. 



110 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

IV. The gate. Ex. 2y\ i6; 38: 18. 
V. The altar in the court. 

(i) Size. Ex. 2."]'. i; 38: I. 

(2) Construction. Ex. 2y\ 2-8; 38: 2-4. 

(3) Staves and rings. Ex. 27: ^-y, 38: 5-7. 

(4) Utensils. Ex. 27: 3; 38: 3. 
VL The Laver. Ex. 30: 18-19. 

VII. The tabernacle itself. 

(3) Material of walls. Ex. 26: 15-16; '^G: 20-21. 

(2) The number of the boards and places. Ex. 

26'. 18, 20-25; 36 : 23, 25, 2y, 2^, 30. 

(3) The tenons and sockets. Ex. 26, 17^ 19, 21; 

36: 22, 24, 26. 

(4) The couplings of the corners. Ex. 26: 24. 

(5) Bars to hold the boards. Ex. 26: 26-28; 36: 

31-33. 

(6) Golden coverings. Ex. 26: 29; 36: 34. 

(7) Inner tent cloth. Ex. 26: 1-6; 38: 8-12. 

(8) Outer tent cloth. Ex. 26:7-13; 36: 14-18. 

(9) Top coverings. Ex. 26: 14. 
(10) Pins and vessels. Ex. 2y\ 19. 

VIII. The Holy Place. 

(i) Separated from the most holy. Ex. 26: 31-33. 

(2) The outer door. Ex. 26: 36-37. 

(3) Table of shewbread. Ex. 25: 23-30; 37: 10-16. 

(4) The golden candlestick. Ex. 25: 31-40; 37: 

17-24. 

(5) Altar of incense. Ex. 30: 1-5; 37: 25-28; 30-6. 

(6) Lamps to burn always. Ex. 27: 20-21; Lev. 

24: 4; Num. 8: 2-4. 
IX. The Holy of Holies. 

(i) The ark of the covenant. Ex. 25: 10-16; 37: 

1-5. 
(2) Its contents. Ex. 25: 21; Num. 17: 10-13. 



IN THE BIBLE. Ill 

(3) The mercy seat. Ex. 25: 17-20; 37: 6-9. 

(4) Its position and purpose. Ex. 26: 34; 25: 2.2. 
X. The tabernacle set up. 

(i) Commanded. Ex. 26'. 30; 40: 2-15. 

(2) Work completed. Ex. 39: 32-43; 40: 17-33. 

(3) Arrangements for transportation. Num. 7: 

3-9- 
Apartments and Furniture. — Seen from the outside the 
tabernacle was a tent, surrounded by an open court, which 
was 100 cubits long and 50 cubits wide. The pillars which 
supported the curtain were made of acacia, a hard wood not 
liable to rot and the only wood found in the wilderness of 
Sinai fit for such purpose. The court was entered from 
the east by a curtain door. There was nothing particu- 
larly fine nor costly in this outer court. There was the 
Laver, a trough or vessel for water in which the priest 
could wash his hands before beginning any service. The 
principal object in the outer court was the Altar of Burnt 
Offering. This was made of earth or stones on which no 
hammer had been placed. It was surrounded by a box of 
acacia wood three cubits high and five broad and long. 
The fire was never allowed to go out on this altar. The 
tabernacle was a little west of the middle of the outer court. 
Its inner covering was linen. The next one was cloth 
made of goat's hair, and the whole roofed with ram's skins 
colored red, over which was spread an outer covering of 
porpoise skins, now generally supposed to have been the 
skins of a species of the dolphin found in the Red Sea. The 
inclosed space was divided into two apartments by a veil 
of very fine material and workmanship. The first room 
was the Holy place, in which were found the golden can- 
dlestick, the altar of incense and the table of shewbread. 
The golden candlestick had seven lamps. It was all of 
pure gold and must have been worth about $20,000. The 



112 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

lamps were kept burning night and day. The table of 
Shewbread stood on the right of the entrance. On it were 
placed two piles of cakes, six cakes in each pile. Some- 
thing west of the middle of the room stood the Altar of 
Incense. This was probably small but very costly. The 
incense which was burned upon it was a mixture of gums 
from different trees, the smoke of which had a very pleas- 
ant odor. Beyond these was the curtain which concealed 
the Holy of Holies. The Ark of the Covenant was placed 
in it. The Ark was made of acacia wood and was two and 
a half cubits long and one and a half high and broad. The 
two tables of the law were placed within it. The top was 
the Mercy Seat, on which were the cherubim. They were in 
the attitude of reverence, kneeling with heads bowed and 
bodies inclined forward. This brought the tips of their 
Vv'ings together. Aaron's rod that budded and the pot of 
manna were placed before the ark. The symbolical sig- 
nificance of the Tabernacle is a very rich field for study. 
Everything connected with it was educative in the highest 
sense. Any one who studies its equipment and services in 
the light of New Testament revelation cannot but be im- 
pressed with the prophetical, or typical character of it. 

The Tabernacle an Object Lesson. — We have said the pur- 
pose of the Ceremonial was to lead men to rely on the aton- 
ing work of a Substitute for justification. The Tabernacle 
was an elaborate object lesson to this end. God indeed 
dwelt among them, and yet apart from them unapproach- 
able in his holiness, except in his own appointed way. That 
way was symbolized, 

I. By the Altar of Burnt Offering, which stood at the 
entrance. It taught the fundamental truth of the Hebrew 
religion, that the way to God was through a substitute, 
which satisfied justice. Man in approaching the Holy of 



IN THE BIBLE. 113 

Holies met God at the Altar, and God from the abode of 
his holiness first met man there. 

2. The Laver. The Altar symboHzed right relation to 
God and the Laver right attitude toward God, which 
means freedom from sin. The Hebrew was justified 
through the Altar and sanctified through the Laver. 

3. The Candlestick. Through atonement and washing, 
the sinner was admitted into the light of God. This sym- 
bolized the next step toward man's re-instatement into the 
full enjoyment of intellectual and spiritual fellowship with 
God. 

4. The Table of Shewbread. Whatever else it may have 
meant, it surely was to be a memorial before God. Lev. 
24 : 7. It symbolized the duty of man to offer to God 
continually a devoted service and thereby plead his coven- 
ant promises. The Incense was placed beside it, and when 
the bread was renewed on Sabbath, Lev. 24 : 8, the in- 
cense was burned, inseparably uniting service and prayer. 

5. The Altar of Incense symbolized fellowship with 
God. All scripture recognizes this. The same idea has 
taken deep hold on the religious life of to-day. The Psalm- 
ist speaks of his prayers rising as incense to God, Ps. 141: 
2. The same expression is not uncommon to-day. The 
sweetness of the odor, the fact that it followed reconcilia- 
tion and cleansing would teach the worshipper that only 
through the Substitute could he approach God. Some 
Christians never get beyond the Altar of Burnt Offering 
in their experience. 

6. The Veil was symbolical of the fact that the way in- 
to the Holy of Holies was not yet made manifest. It re- 
quired the historic drama of Calvary to perfect the sinner's 
approach to God. The rending of the veil from the top 
to the bottom at that time was, therefore, very significant. 

7. The Ark of the Covenant symbolizes the secret dwell- 



114 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

ing place of God, — his very throne. Nothmg but the most 
approved could enter here, for it meant the closest of friend- 
ship, even into the secrets of God. The Mercy Seat was 
there, and the Cherubim which are always related to the 
idea of mercy. When man was driven from the garden 
the sword of justice was met in the Cherubim of mercy. 
Now the plan is completed, the Substitute has satisfied just- 
ice and the sword is withdrawn. 

The Priesthood. — The wisdom of the priestly economy of 
the Hebrew government appears when the student reflects 
on the close relation that existed between the state and the 
religion. Although the tribe of Levi and the first high 
priests were appointed to their positions by the specific di- 
rection of God, yet the appointment was ratified by the peo- 
ple. Moses, the Seventy, and the Congregation consecrat- 
ed the high priest and his associates. Lev. 8: 2-5. In 
I Chron. 29: 20-22 it appears that when a change of high 
priest was necessary the matter was throwj;! back on the 
people. The tribe of Levi was chosen of God to a special 
mission and yet they received their authority from the 
concurrence of the people in this choice. *'And thou shalt 
bring the Levites before the Lord; and the Children of Is- 
rael shall put their hands upon the Levites." The putting 
on of hands has always been considered as a transmission 
of authority. By this act the Levites became officers of 
the government, deriving their power from the consent of 
the governed. This was one of the fundamental principles 
of the Hebrew polity. It cannot be construed to mean 
that the people were independent of God in the exercise 
of their political rights. They were then and always have 
been responsible to him in every line of activity. It means 
that God made over to man certain rights when he created 
him a free moral agent. He holds man to a strict account 
for the exercise of this freedom, but God never violates it. 



IN THE BIBLE. 115 

I. The Levites dedicated to the service of the govern- 
ment instead of the firstborn of Israel. 

(i) The tribe of Levi set apart. Num. 3: 6-9; 
8: 19; 18: 6. 

(2) Instead of the firstborn. Num. 3: 12-13, 4i» 

45; 8: 16-18. 

(3) Excess of firstborn over the Levites to be 

redeemed with money. 

(a) Number of Israel. Num. 3: 40-43. 

(b) Number of Levites. Num. 3: 15, 16, 39. 

(c) The excess redeemed. Num. 3:46-51. 
II. Consecration of the Levites. Num. 8: (i-22,. 

III. Age of service. Num. 8: 24-26. 

IV. Transferred to the temple service, i Chron. 6: 48; 

23: 27-32. 

V. Duties. 

(i) Assistants at sacrifice, i Chron. 9: 31-32. 

(2) Singers, i Chron. 6: 31-32; 9: 33-34; i6r 

7, 41, 42; 23: 5. 

(3) Doorkeepers, i Chron. 9: 17-27. 

(4) Treasurers, i Chron. 2(^\ 26-2S. 

(5) Judges. Deut. 21 : 5. 

VI. Support of Levites. Deut. 10: 8-9; 8: 1-2;, Num. 
26: 62; Josh. 13: 33; 14: 3-4; 18: 7; Kum. 18: 
21-24; 35- 2-5; Deut. 12: 19; 26: II. 

Origin of the Separation of the Levites. — Following the 
Passover and relating to the deliverance of the Hebrew na- 
tion was the command that the firstborn be dedicated to 
God. This dedication was to national and ecclasiastical 
duties. But it would be difficult to secure the firstborn to 
the state after they had entered into their promised inherit- 
ance. Therefore, the tribe of Levi was withdrawn largely 
from business and devoted to this work. The policy, how- 



116 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

ever, threatened the state with another danger. A class 
of priests often become absolute in their power. They are 
enabled to secure this influence through the superstition of 
the people. In these cases they are bound by no law and 
they make and change law whenever then can promote 
their personal interests in this way. Now the intellectual 
status of the Israelites did not place them beyond this dan- 
ger, but their priests were made subject to the common 
law. They were excluded from inheritance in the soil and 
their personal interests were made to depend on the knowl- 
edge the people had of the law and their fidelity to it. 

The Revenue of the Tribe. — All members of the tribe 
were not needed in civil and religious service all the time.* 
When not employed in this way they were free to engage 
in other work. It has been argued that they would grow 
rich on their income without any effort of their own. But 
they gave the tenth of all they received to the priests. The 
whole of Israel was not tithable, for example the pasture- 
lands. The cattle paid only a tithe of the young. The 
rendition of the tithe was left wholly to the conscience of 
the individual. Indeed, we have clear evidence in their 
later history that the tithe was often withheld. 

The priests received the tenth of the income of the tribe 
of Levi and a share in the first ripe fruits. They also re- 
ceived the firstborn of animals, clean and unclean, and the 
burnt offerings were to be theirs and portions of the sacri- 
fices, where the blood had not been taken into the holy of 
holies. 

Sacred Occasions. — The Sabbath was made a day of spe- 
cial note from the very first. During their wilderness wan- 
derings these occasions would suffice for social worship 
and the cultivation of mutual sympathy and interest. But 
their institutions were looking to the time when they 
should be settled in Canaan, an agricultural people widely 



IN THE BIBLE. 



117 



distributed. It was highly important that such occasions 
be instituted as would bring the people together quite 
often. This was accomplished by their yearly feasts. It is 
worthy of remark that these national gatherings were 
placed in months when the great mass could attend them 
without danger or loss. The conservative, unifying influ- 
ence of these feasts was felt throughout the history of the 
nation. 

HEBREW CAIvENDAR. 



1. Nisan. 

2. Ijar. 

3. Sivan. 

4. Tammus. 

5. Ab. 

6. Elul. 

7. Tishri. 

8. Marcheshvan. 

9. Chislen. 

10. Tebeth. 

11. Shebet. 

12. Adar. 



Mar.-Apr, 



Apr.- 
May- 
June 
July 
Aug. 
Sept. 
Oct.- 
Nov 
Dec, 



-May. 

■June. 

-July. 

Aug. 

-Sept. 

Oct. 

Nov. 
-Dec. 
-Jan. 



Jan.-Feb. 
Feb.-Mar. 



Passover. 



Feast of Weeks. . -. . 



Feast of Tabernacles. 



Melting of snows on lyeb- 
anon. Jordan overflows. 

Clear, warm. 
Clear, sunshiny, hot. 
Clear, sunshiny, hot. 
Clear, sunshiny, hot. 
Dews, former rain. 
Rain, Partly fair. 
Greatest rainfall. 
Coldest in the year. Rain, 
hail, snow on hills. 

Month of the latter rain on 
which pasture depends. 



13. Veadar — intercalated when necessary to make the 
year begin in the spring. 

Several festivals were afterward added to the above list. 

IN THE WILDERNESS. 

I. From Sinai to the southern border of Canaan. 
Num. 10: 11-13; 10: 28-33; Deut. i: 6-8. 
II. Canaan searched. Num. 13: 1-3, 17-25. 

III. Evil report brought back. Num. 13: 25-33; 14: 

I-IO. 

IV. Turned back into the wilderness. Num. 14: 11-45; 

32: 8-15. 
V. From Hazeroth to Kadesh. Num. 33 : 18-36. 
VI. From Kadesh to Mount Hor. Num. 20: i; Deut. 
2 : 1-8 
VII. From Mt. Hor to Canaan. Num. 21: 4; 1013; 
Deut. 2: 13-19; Num. 21: 16-20; Num. 21: 31-33. 



118 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

VIII. Moses blesses the tribes of Israel. Deut. 33: 1-29. 
IX. Death of Moses. Deut. 34: 1-12. 

HEBREW SACRIFICES. 

It is highly important that the student while studying 
the Hebrew economy of sacrifices, put himself in sympathy 
with the Jew in his outlook. In it Christ becomes the hope 
of the nation. Sacrifice did not always mean the same. 
Different times and different occasions called for different 
sacrifices. We have no account of a specific ritual until 
the Mosaic dispensation. Sacrifices were common before 
this time, but the Levitical code marks an advance over 
anything given before in the biblical record. Although as 
a nation they may never have gotten the divine method of 
atonement in clear outline, yet so well were the sacrifices 
adapted to the educative purpose of God that many Jews 
may have seen through their symbolism to a substitute who 
would in some way readjust their relation to God. Every 
one would not get out of them all God put in them. Wick- 
edness and worldliness would as effectually bar the Jew 
from full participation in them as they now keep the wor- 
shipper of God through Christ from participating in the 
work and enjoying the fellowship of a Spirit filled life. In 
discussing the Mosaic sacrifices we shall confine ourselves 
to their purpose and their adaptation to the culture of the 
nation, proceeding as if the whole nation came up to their 
measure. 

The Origin of the Idea of Sacrifice. — Sacrifice of some 
kind is common to all pagan religions. It may be attrib- 
uted to an instinctive religious sentiment which is univer- 
sal. It seems to grow up naturally with a sense of sin. All 
idol worship proceeds on the belief that a state of feud ex- 
ists between the gods and mankind. They represent the 
wrath of the gods as clamoring to be satisfied and a sacri- 



IN THE BIBLE. 119 

fice is naturally suggested as a pacific measure. This im- 
pulse is universal. Since God always adapts his method to 
the mental constitution of man it is reasonable to expect 
that sacrifices will have a place in the Hebrew economy. 
Although the impulse to sacrifice is a necessary concomfi- 
tant of a sense of guilt, yet the sacrifices of God's people, 
from Abel down, differ so widely from the offerings of 
heathen superstition that we cannot refer their origin 
wholly to natural impulse. Heathenism would appease the 
wrath of a god with cruelties inflicted on the person of the 
offerer or the person of another. Sometimes it would buy 
the favor of the deity with costly gifts. The satisfaction idea 
may be found in it, but not the idea of unmerited propitia- 
tion through a substitute. 

Rightness and wrongness we have shown to relate to 
God's character. All friendly movements of the soul must 
grow out of a sense of the reconciliation of God. The 
demands of the divine character must be satisfied in the 
justification of the sinner, and hence the method must be 
related to that character. The sacrifices of false religions 
fail to satisfy this inherent craving for justification. Nothing 
but an entire substitution independent of human merit or 
activity will do. Such a plan could emanate only from God, 
and the symbolism that teaches it must^ have the same 
source. A consciousness of reconciliation through a sub- 
stitute, unmerited though it be, opens the way to all the 
other sacrifices of Hebrew worship. 

It is extremely doubtful whether the expiatory idea was 
prominent in the recorded sacrifices of pre-Mosaic times. 
They are very closely similar to the offering of Abel, which 
is called "minchah," or gift. Now this pre-supposes rec- 
onciliation, for an acceptable gift could not be present- 
ed to God so long as his justice was not vindicated. The 
idea of vindicated justice may or may not have been com- 



120 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

municated to him through the divinely given symbol of 
a sin oflfering. It may have been simply the verbal prom- 
ise of a Savior; it may have been taught to man in the 
slaying of the animals to clothe Adam and Eve ; it may 
have been given him in the formal ceremony of sacrifice, 
or possibly in the symbolism of the sword and cherubim. 
That Abel, Noah, and the patriarchs had the idea from 
some source is evident in their sacrifices, but nothing defi- 
nite is given as to its origin or perpetuation. Without 
faith in the scheme of acquittal which God proposed there 
could not be an acceptable approach to God. This is 
wherein Cain failed. He did not have the attitude toward 
God which grows out of a sense of pardon. There is no 
ground for the belief that Abers offering was accepted and 
Cain's rejected because one represented a life" poured out 
and the other the fruit of human efifort. It was because 
Abel proceeded on this deep underlying principle of ac- 
ceptable service, and Cain did not. 

Type and Symbol. — Confused ideas sometimes arise from 
a vague conception of the meaning of these terms. Much 
of the Hebrew economy of worship was typical and yet it 
was at the same time symbolical. A type is a prophetic 
action or a prophetic character. Moses is said to be a 
type of Christ. By this is meant that the official or re- 
presentative character imposed upon him prefigured the 
office and work of Christ. The sacrifices were typical of 
the person and work of the Savior in that they were the 
prophetic act which set forth the blood-bought redemp- 
tion from the bondage of sin. The typical side of these in- 
stitutions looked to the future. Any effort to understand 
them in that day was an attempt to interpret prophecy. It 
is not so difficult to understand prophecy after its fulfill- 
ment, therefore the student, standing on the vantage 
ground of the Christian dispensation, can see, in these per- 



IN THE BIBLE. 121 

sons and ceremonies, types of an administration and a char- 
acter infinitely wise and perfectly adapted to human need. 

A symbol is such a presentation to our natural organ- 
ism as suggests a thought not capable of explicit statement. 
It is an object lesson and is peculiarly adapted to the ear- 
lier stages of mental culture. It is of present import and 
present application. The whole ceremonial law was a sys- 
tem of object lessons designed to teach the Jew the funda- 
mental doctrines of salvation through a substitute. Man 
is always slow to learn the deep truths of tne spirit. It 
may be true that oftentimes they did not see beyond the 
symbol. It may be that the frequent repetition of the sym- 
bol led them into formalism. Nevertheless it would be a 
constant help to those whose attitude toward God was 
right. Just as it may be true that to some the symbolism 
of the Lord's Supper may hide its real import, but it con- 
tinues to be a great source of strength to those whose 
conception of it is true. Although the one observance of 
it may teach all it was designed to teach, yet its repetition 
is by no means futile. 

The Sin Offering. — The sin oflfering is not given first in 
the Levitical catalogue of sacrifices. We discuss it first 
because it is the root from which all others spring. 

I. Sin offering for sins of ignorance. 

(i) For the high priest. Lev. 4: 1-12. 

(2) For the whole congregation. Lev. 4: 13-21. 

(3) For a ruler Lev. 4: 22-26. 

(4) For one of the common people. Lev. 4: 27-35. 
11. Sin ofifering at the consecration of Aaron and his 

sons. Ex. 29: 1-14. 
III. Sin offering of the great day of atonement. 

(i) On entering into the Holy of Holies. Lev. 

16: 1-4. 
(2) Choice of victims. Lev. 16: 5-10. 



122 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

(3) For the high priest. Lev. 16: 11-14. 

(4) For the people. Lev. 16: 15-19. 

(5) The scapegoat let go. Lev. 16: 20-22. 

The Meaning of the Sin Offering. — The sin offering was 
a propitiatory sacrifice. '"Expiation has respect to the 
bearing which satisfaction has upon sin or the sinner. Pro- 
pitiation has respect to the effect of satisfaction in thus re- 
moving the judicial displeasure of God." The sin offer- 
ing has more in it than the idea of satisfaction. It car- 
ries with it the fact of the reinstatement of friendly rela- 
tions between persons formerly estranged. The particular 
reference is to atonement not so much for the sins of daily 
life, as the moral impurity of nature which works out the 
catalogue of specific transgressions incident to human ac- 
tivity. Specific mention is made of sins committed 
through ignorance as ones demanding the sin offering. It 
applied to the priest, the whole congregation, the rulers 
and the common people. In sins through ignorance the 
flagrancy is not so much in the act itself as in the moral 
obliquity and bias towards the evil which gave life to the 
sin. Of course this is true in all sin; but the fact that spe- 
cial attention is called to it here indicates that, in the sin 
offering, impurity of character was recognized to be the 
source of the sin, and hence the necessity of atonement 
for the character. This sacrifice, therefore, has deepest 
significance. It represents the character as the spring of 
activity, and that the character is impure. It brings out 
prominently the fact of the total alienation of man from 
God and his entire impotence to right himself with God. 

The Symbolism of the Sin Offering. — The symbolism of 
the sin offering comes to the surface in the meaning of it. 
No intelligent Jew with his knowledge of God and this 
conception of himself would think for a moment that the 
ritual of the ceremony could transfer the guilt of the of- 



IN THE BIBLE. 123 

ferer to an unreasoning animal. Moreover the Hebrew 
word used in this connection means to cover sin, not to 
remove it. But the God of the Hebrews was at this time 
known to the nation as unalterable in his purpose to pun- 
ish sin. His whole providential relation to them incul- 
cated the ideas of holiness and justice. Therefore, the 
only thing which could cover sin in his sight must be some- 
thing that would satisfy the demands of hoHness. 

The symbolism of the offering would teach man the 
doctrine of substitution before God. The animal was not 
the substitute. The Shiloh was promised as the hope of 
the nation. The devout Jew could see through the sym- 
bolism of the sacrifice clearly enough to implant in him a 
faith in a real Substitute who would in some way make ex- 
piation for him. It was not necessary to this faith that he 
know that the real sacrifice must be the Son of God, put 
to death by violent hands. A prophetic view of the agony 
of Gethsemane w^as not needed. Enough to know that 
God had prepared a substitute adequate to the office. In 
the sin offering of the Great Day of Atonement the sym- 
bolism of the taking away of sin is complete. One goat 
was sacrificed and, after the sins were confessed on the 
head of another, it was sent into the wilderness beyond the 
haunts of men. Not only was justice satisfied, but the 
remembrance of sin borne away or blotted out from the 
memory of God. 

I. Tresspass offerings for special sins, 
(i) Against God. Lev. 5: 15-16. 

(2) Against holy things. Lev. 22 : 14-16. 

(3) Against the rights of others. Lev. 5: 17-19; 

Lev. 6 : 1-7 : 19 : 20-22 ; Num. 5 : 5-10. 
II. The law of the trespass offering. Lev. 7: i-io. 

The Meaning of the Trespass Offering. — The trespass 
offering differs from the sin offering in that it has refer- 



124 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

ence to specific violations of the law. No sacrifice was ac- 
cepted for those sins which under the Mosaic economy 
were punishable with death. Where the sin was a minor 
offense and rendered the man unworthy in his own sight 
and in the sight of the nation the trespass offering was ac- 
cepted for him. It might be offered for a sin of ignorance. 
In this case the sacrifice was offered for the offense, while 
the sin offering had reference to the character, of which 
the trespass was an expression. The prominent idea in it 
was satisfaction. It did not imply a changed relationship 
to God^ but simply that a wrong act brought with it a sense 
of debt or obligation to pay the penalty or price. In keep- 
ing with this idea the animal was to have an intrinsic value. 
The value was to be estimated by the priest. It never 
applied to the whole congregation, but always to individu- 
als. 

The Symbolism of the Trespass Offering. — The sense of 
reconciliation which a worthy participation in the sin of- 
fering brought to the offerer would enhance his estimate 
of his obligation to God and to his fellowman for the tres- 
passes of his daily life. A consciousness of pardon through 
a worthy substitute would have no influence to lead him 
to view with indifference his obligation to pay the just pen- 
alty of his sin. The world has always needed this lesson. 
The trespass offering would teach the Jew that, although 
he might be forgiven before God^ yet material punishment 
could not be averted. If a man sin against himself or 
against society he must suffer the legitimate punishment, 
even though, through the atonement of Christ, no moral 
accountablility attaches to his sin. The agent of punish- 
ment is generally in the line of the sin. If agamst nature 
the punishment comes through natural agencies ; if against 
society the punishment is generally along social lines. 



IN THE BIBLE. 125 

The Sacrifices of Justified Man. — The sin and trespass of- 
ferings prepared the worshipper for the other sacrifices of 
the Jewish religion. ReconciHation was effected, and the 
relation of God to man and man to God was a friendly one. 
The movement of the human soul would now change from 
antagonism to love. Man's conscience was satisfied be- 
cause he had clear evidence that God was satisfied and 
was therefore propitious. The burnt offering, the meal 
offering, and the peace offering were now in point to sym- 
bolize the proper frame of mind and heart toward God. 
I. Continual burnt offering for the nation. Ex. 29: 
38-46. Num. 28: 1-6. 
II. National burnt offerings on special occasions, 
(i) On the Sabbaths. Num. 28 : 9-10. 

(2) In the beginning of months. Num. 28: 11-13. 

(3) Fifteenth day of the first month. Num. 28: 

16-19. 

(4) In the day of first fruits. Num. 28: 26-31. 

(5) At the feast of trumpets. Num. 29 : 8, 13 — 

III. Individual burnt offerings. 

(i) Of the herd. Lev. i 11-9. 

(2) Of the flock. Lev. i :io-i3. 

(3) Of fowls. Lev. 1 : 14-17. 

IV. Law of the burnt offering. Lev. 6 : 8-13. 

The Burnt Offering. — The burnt offering is the symbol 
of the natural expression of gratitude that rises in the 
heart on the experience of a changed attitude to God. The 
prominent idea in it was dedication. Paul expressed the 
thought of the burnt offering when he said: "Lord what 
wilt Thou have me to do?" Acts 9: 6. The offerer gave 
his Hfe, his whole being to God. "Believe on the Lord Je- 
sus Christ and thou shalt be saved/' would not have ans- 
wered Paulas question, for he already believed, was saved, 
and out of the gratitude of his heart gave his life to the 



126 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

Lord. The burnt offering was designed to bring the Jew- 
ish mind and heart to the same self-surrender. The bright 
light and the voice were means to an end, to create in Paul 
the disposition which he crystallized in his question; the 
burnt offering was a means to an end, that end a spirit of 
self-surrender to God. 

But this does not exhaust the symbolism of it. The 
offerer was to lay his hands on the head of the offering. 
The animal was to be without spot or blemish. This 
would teach him that the life God required was a per- 
fect life. It would lead the devout Jew to true penitence 
for his sin. The daily offering signified the daily dedica- 
tion of the nation to God. Extra burnt offerings accom- 
panied the religious feasts and festivals. The times of the 
personal burnt offerings were not specified, but the symbol- 
ism was the same. 

The Peace Offering. — It is difficult for us to study these 
sacrifices from a Jewish point of view. There is in the 
whole economy of sacrifice such fitting types of Christ that 
the mind would fain hurry from the Jewish perspective to 
the Christian, where the horizon is wider and the atmos- 
phere clearer. But to appreciate the full educative influ- 
ence of this part of the Hebrew worship, we must review a 
few more symbols. 

I. The peace offering. 

(i) Of the herd. Lev. 3 : 1-5. 

(2) Of the flock. Lev. 3 : 6-17. 
II. The law of the peace offering. 

(i) Accompanying meal offering. Lev. 7: 
11-14. 

(2) To be eaten the same day. Lev. 7: 15-21. 

(3) Fat and blood prohibited. Lev. 7: 22-27. 

(4) The Lord's share. Lev. 7 : 29-36. 

The Symbolism of the Peace Offering. — The key to the 



IN THE BIBLE. 127 

interpretation of the symbolism of the peace offering is 
found in what Eidersheim calls ''A sacrificial meal." The 
offering was a sign of friendship. God became man's guest 
in that happy relation which prompts to an exchange of 
hospitality. The restrictions in regard to the character of 
the thing offered were removed so largely that it testified 
that God considered nothing which was lawful to them, 
unsuitable to him. The meaning of the sacrifice lies on the 
surface. One of the first promptings of the heart when an 
estranged friend becomes reconciled is to extend the hos- 
pitality of the table to him. There is something in the soc- 
ial atmosphere when friends gather around the table that 
does not exist in the parlor. The hospitable Jew would not 
be slow to recognize this and would fully appreciate the fel- 
fowship which a social meal suggests. The peace offering 
could have meaning only to the pacified conscience and 
thus it too had the sin offering as a background. 

The Meal (Meat) Offering. — .This offering is called 
minchah, which means gift. It was the sacrifice that Cain 
and Abel were offering when the quarrel arose which ter- 
minated in Abel's death. It is such a constant companion 
of the bloody offering where the idea of sin was present 
that it lends strength to the belief that the first sacrifice of 
the Bible is recorded because of its relation to Gaines sin 
and not because it was the only kind of sacrifice of that 
day. The meal offering was offered first alone, second 
with some other sacrifice. The occasions on which it was 
offered alone were (a) for the high priest, taken from his 
own allowance, and offered daily for himself and his house, 
Lev. 6: 14; (b) for the trial of jealousy. The iniquity ele- 
ment entered here and hence the offering was not anoint- 
ed with oil or incense. Num. 5: 15; (c) for those so poor 
that they could bring no animal or bird for a sin offering. 
Here also was the idea of sin and the oil and the incense 



128 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

were not used; (d) the wave sheaf on the morrow after the 
passover, Lev. 23:10; (e) the wave loaves during the first 
week (Pentecost.) The offerer gave something which cost 
him effort. It was generally a spontaneous gift prompted 
by gratitude for daily bread. The drink offering was sig- 
nificant of much the same. 

First, then, we have sacrifices to pacify the conscience 
with the knowledge that God is pacified, to surround the 
throne of justice with the rainbow of mercy. Second, sac- 
rifices to express the dedication of the life to God, — a life 
which is felt to be his by right of purchase through atone- 
ment made. Third, sacrifices expressive of closest friend- 
ships — a fellowship that can exist only between kindred 
spirits when the impulses of one life actuate the other life. 
No reasonable criticism can be urged against this institu- 
tion because it called for the lives ,of irrational animals. 
The whole economy did not require as many animals as 
yield up their lives in American slaughter houses. In the 
one case the life is taken that the carcass may minister 
to the animal propensities of civilized man; in the other, 
to minister to the higher, nobler part of the Hebrew, mak- 
ing him more Godlike and true in thought and deed. In 
brief 

I. The sin offering meant expiation. 



The trespass offering, satisfaction. 

The burnt offering, dedication. 

The peace offering, fellowship. 

The meal offerings gift. 
The Books of the Law. — We have studied the laws of the 
Hebrews in general outline as if they were all given to 
Moses at Mount Sinai. Evidently such was not the case. 
Some critics have endeavored to project the origin of the 
entire system to a much later time. They divide it into 
three codes of different dates. But the attempt has mul- 



IN THE BIBLE. 129 

tiplied difficulties so enormously that their theory can 
never be widely accepted. It is true that no system is dis- 
coverable in these books. Laws are repeated in different 
collections and even in the same collection with little or 
no variation. Laws are placed together which are so di- 
verse that they can be explained only by referring them to 
different times and different social conditions. The Pen- 
tateuch is surely Mosaic in origin and character. This 
does not necessarily imply that Moses wrote down all we 
find there. It was the law book of Israel. As this was 
copied from time to time it would be enlarged by the addi- 
tion of the laws enacted in their later history. Laws adapt- 
ed to their desert life were repealed or modified by other 
laws suited to other times and yet left standing on their 
statute book. The advantage of this to the modern Bible 
student is at once apparent. He can construct from these 
laws a very reliable history of the social customs of the na- 
tion and note the changes in customs. This knowledge is a 
great help in understanding the application of God's pro- 
vidences to the people ; it is but another illustration of the 
depth and wisdom of the divine method in the education 
of the race. Deeper study in the light of the purpose of 
God in the Bible reveals harmony where^ at first, appears 
nothing but discord. 



PART III. 

THE ESTABLISHMENT OF SECULAR 
GOVERNMENT. 

1. The Period of the Judges. 

2. Establishment of the Kingdom and rise of the Pro- 
phetic Order. 



IN THE BIBLE. 133 

VII. 
THE PERIOD OF THE JUDGES. 



Benjamin Kidd in his ''Social Evolution," after follow- 
ing carefully and closely the progress of society and the 
causes that have ministered to it, says : "The evolution 
which is proceeding in society is not primarily intellectual 
but religious in character. The development of intellectual 
character has been subordinate to the development of re- 
ligious character." Sharp competition in business or war 
develops a certain kind of ability. It fosters the spirit and 
enlarges the capacity to advance self over others by driv- 
ing all competitors to the wall. No purely material condi- 
tions can mellow and deepen the character until human 
affection and sympathy bind each to all in helpful effort. 
Society cannot advance in classes. Real progress is in the 
line of obliteration of caste sentiment. It does not neces- 
sarily imply that material conditions be leveled, but only 
that brotherly feeling be exercised. There has been evi- 
dent progress in this direction. Mr. Galton in "Hered- 
itary Genius" says in substance, that the average intellec- 
tual ability of the Athenian nation was about two degrees 
above our own. No one would argue that their civiliza- 
tion was nearly so high as western civilization to-day. 

All religions^ however, are not equally potent to this end. 
Heathen religions develop caste feeling. They very soon 
reach the high water mark of their civilization. Western 
civilization is the outgrowth of the Hebrew reHgion. What- 
ever it has of advancement in arts and sciences above 
heathen countries, whatever of culture and comfort, may 
be traced to the Christian faith. The history of the Is- 
raelites cannot be considered from a purely secular point 
of view. 



134 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

The rise and dramatic fall of the nation may be treated as 
parallel to that of other nations of Western Asia, but the 
idea for which the Hebrew nation stood has been the only 
persistently uplifting one the world has ever known. 
Greece bequeathed philosophy and art to the world and 
Rome, civil law. The influence of these nations is yet felt. 
Alone they are inadequate to advance society beyond a 
certain point, or to hold it at that point when once attain- 
ed. The platform of the Hebrew nation was wide enough 
to resist all human effort to disintegrate it. Therefore we 
return with renewed assurance to our fundamental propo- 
sition^ that God's purpose in the Hebrew nation was the 
conservation of a pure and spiritual worship of Jehovah. 

We come now to a study of the chosen nation in its ef- 
forts towards a secular government. The history falls 
naturally into three periods. 
I. The Conquest of Canaan. 

II. The Succession of the Judges. 
III. The Establishment of the Kings and the Rise of the 
Prophetic Order. 

I.— CONQUEST OF CANAAN. 

Early Inhabitants of Canaan. — Little is known of the ear- 
ly inhabitants of Palestine. At the time of the conquest 
the Philistines occupied the southwestern part, bordering 
on the Great Sea. They were related to the Egyptians 
and hence were of Hamitic stock. If conquered by Joshua 
at all they soon recovered their territory, and were the 
most dangerous enemies of the Hebrews until David's 
time. They had five strong cities or political centers : Ga- 
za, Askelon, Ashdod, Gath, and Ekron. 

The Hittites occupied a section in the north extending 
from the sea coast to the Jordan river. Another branch 
more frequently mentioned occupied territory in the south 
around Hebron. It was with these that the patriarchs 



IN THE BIBLE. 135 

were more closely related and from them Abraham pur- 
chased his family burying-place. 

The Girgashites probably dwelt south of this branch of 
the Hittites, but their location is not known very defi- 
nitely* 

The Hivites were north of Jerusalem in about central 
Palestine. Four of their towns formed the Gibeonite 
League and made a treaty of peace with Joshua. They 
were the least warlike of all the tribes. 

The Canaanites occupied the sea coast north of the Phil- 
istines and south of Phoenicia and the Jordan valley. In- 
deed Canaanite is but another name for Phoenician. Some- 
times all the tribes of Palestine are called Canaanites, but 
the name belongs strictly to the tribes of the lowland dis- 
trict. At the time of the conquest Jericho was their chief 
city in the Jordan plain. 

The Perizzites lived in and around Jebus, afterward Je- 
rusalem. They were of Canaanitish origin, a small and 
warlike tribe. Joshua conquered them, but they afterward 
regained their territory and held it until David subdued 
them and made their chief city his capital. 

The Jebusites lived in and around Jebus, afterward Je- 
rusalem. They were of Canaanitish origin, a small and 
warlike tribe. Joshua conquered them, but they after- 
ward regained their territory and held it until David sub- 
dued them and made their chief city his capital. 

The Amorites occupied territory west of the Dead Sea 
and a strip east of the Jordan River. The northern part 
of their east Jordanic territory was called Bashan at the 
time of the conquest. 

The Moabites and Ammonites were descendants of Lot. 
They had probably conquered the primitive Emim and 
Zunmim during the Egyptian bondage of Israel. Deut. 
2 : 19-23. 



136 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

Edom lay south of Moab, and was peopled by descend- 
ants of Esau. Each tribe had a king. Their worship of 
Baal and Ashtaroth was licentious in the extreme. They 
practiced human sacrifice. Not only were the captives 
taken in war victims to this cruel practice, but oftentimes 
their own children were offered to their idols. Their lan- 
guage was probably closely allied to the Hebrew, particu- 
larly that of the Moabites and Ammonites. 

East-Jordanic Conquest. — -The Conquest may be divided 
into (i) Conquest of East-Jordanic territory, (2) Conquest 
of Canaan proper. , 

ANALYSIS. 
I. Nations refuse to allow the Hebrews to pass 

through their territory. Jud. 1 1 : 12-20. 
II. Defeat of the Amorites. Num. 21 : 21-32. 

III. Conquest of Bashan. Num. 21 : 33-35. 

IV. Balak king of Moab frightened. 

(i) Sends for Balaam. Num. 22: 1-21. 

(2) Balaam's journey. Num. 22: 22-41. 

(3) Balaam's prophecy. Num. 23 : 1-24 ; 24 : 

1-25. 
V. Moab leads Israel to sin. Num. 25 ; 1-15. 
VI. The Midianites defeated. Num. 31 : 1-20. 
VII. Allotment of the East-Jordanic territory, 
(i) The request. Num. 32: 1-5. 

(2) Moses' protest. Num. 32:6-15. 

(3) The promise. Num. 32:16-19. 

(4) The contract concluded. Num. 32: 20-33. 
The Limits of God's Commission. — God's commission to 

the Hebrew nation was to drive out the tribes occupying 
the territory between the Great Sea and the river Jordan. 
This was the promised land and was theirs by divine gift. 
In driving out the Canaanites they were simply recover- 
ing their own. But this is not true of the East-Jordanic 



IN THE BIBLE. 137 

territory. They had no business with the Moabites or Am- 
monites or Amorites further than a matter of privilege to 
pass through their territory to their own country west of 
the Jordan. They did not undertake to fight their way 
through until Sihon, king of the Amorites, marched 
against them in offensive warfare. Canaan was their 
objective point. Had Sihon permitted them to pass quietly 
through his country he would have been allowed to remain 
in peaceful possession of it. Palestine proper is the land 
with which the biblical narrative is chiefly concerned, but 
the Israelites were permitted to take and hold all the coun- 
try between the Jordan and the Euphrates. 

Israel's East J or dank Enemies. — The Moabites and Am- 
monites were descendants of Lot's sons. The Moabites 
settled in definite territory, but the Ammonites seem to 
have been rovers. The near relationship existing between 
Edom, the children of Esau_, Moab, Ammon, and the He- 
brews was the ground on which war between them was for- 
bidden. The Amorites were the descendants of the fourth 
son of Canaan. Gen. lo: 15-16. During the reign of Ba- 
lak's predecessor Sihon had crossed the Jordan and driven 
the Ammonites and Moabites from a large extent of ter- 
ritory. The rich pastureland south of the Jabbok was in 
his hand, and the Moabites had taken refuge across the 
chasm of Arnon. The Midianites were descendants of 
Abraham by Keturah. Gen. 25 : 12. They occupied the 
wilderness of Sinai. It was to the Midianites that Moses 
fled when he killed the Egyptian, and he afterward married 
a daughter of the priest of Midian. The name, however, 
is often applied to the northern Arab tribes. It was this 
branch of the Arabs that disputed the right of the Hebrews 
to cross the Jordan into Palestine. They were evidently 
tributary to Sihon,, king of the Amorites. The names of 



138 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

the five chiefs of this great tribe are given us in Num. 31 : 
8 : Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur and Reba. 

Balak and Balaam. — Sihon was a menace to Moab. But 
Balak, king of Moab, was frightened at the success of the 
Hebrew army, although it reHeved him of danger from the 
Amorites. He felt himself incompetent to meet Moses in 
battle; he, therefore, had recourse to enchantment, which 
the superstition of his time justified. Balaam must have 
been widely known as a magician, for his home was Pe- 
thor in Mesopotamia. He speaks of himself as being 
brought from Aram out of the mountains of the east. His 
people doubtless cherished more or less purely the faith 
of Abraham, yet he entered heartily into the worship of 
Moab and partook freely of the meats offered to idols. He 
knew that the divine hand was upon him, for he did not 
seek his enchantments as at other times. The lofty ex- 
pressions of Balaam can be referred only to the divine spir- 
it. He was willing but unable to curse Israel. 

The purpose of God in this affair is plain. It was prac- 
tically nothing to the Israelites whether Balaam cursed 
them or blessed them. Balaam was never a maker of des- 
tiny, but here he was a revealer of it. But the event was 
full of meaning to the Moabites. It was an effort on God^s 
part to bring the whole nation to the true worship by mak- 
ing clear to them his own power and the care he exercises 
over his people. 

The wickedness of Balaam and his knowledge of God 
appear in his plan to injure Israel. He could not curse 
them, but he advised a policy which brought a terrible 
judgment on the chosen people. Num. 31: 16; Rev. 2: 
14. It is worthy of note that Phinehas, the son of Eleazer 
the priest, and not Joshua was the leader of the army 
against the Midianites. This war has special religious 
significance in that its occasion was a defection of the He- 



IN THE BIBLE. 139 

brews from pure worship. The whole event was another 
pointed object lesson to the Israelites in regard to the 
character of God and his zeal for a pure and spiritual wor- 
ship. 

Distribution of the East-Jordanic Territory. — By these 
wars, which were really forced upon them, the Hebrews 
came into possession of a wide extent of territory. The 
land was particularly fertile and much of it adapted to graz- 
ing. Reuben^ Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh agreed 
to surrender all claim to a possession west of the Jordan 
if they were allowed to occupy this section east of the Jor- 
dan. The request was granted on conditions satisfactory 
to all. The advantage secured by these tribes proved to 
be a disadvantage in the end. They were removed so far 
from the central government of the nation that they were 
never an influential factor in national afifairs. And they 
were so far removed from the center of their religious sys- 
tem that they degenerated into wandering tribes, all traces 
of which disappear from biblical history at the time of their 
captivity as recorded in i Chron. 5 : 25-26. In recent years 
a colony of fifteen hundred Gadites from Yamen, Arabia, 
have settled in Palestine. And they are there to-day, liv- 
ing witnesses to the faithfulness of God to his covenant 
promises. 

The Conquest of Canaan Proper. — The account of the re- 
covery of Canaan proper by the Hebrews is found in the 
Book of Joshua. For convenience in studying it we will 
divide it into four parts: (a) The Passage of the Jordan, 
chapters 1-5; (b) The Conquest of the Kings, 6-1 1; (c) 
The Allotment of the Tribes, 13-22 ; (d) Joshua's Farewell, 
23-24. 

ANALYSIS OF CHAPTERS 1-5- 

I. Joshua's commission. Josh, i : 1-9. 
II. Preparation to move. Josh, i : 10 — 2 : 24. 



1,40 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

(1) Food. I : lO-II. 

(2) Charge to East-Jordanic tribes, i : 12-15. 

(3) Their answer, i : 16-18. 

(4) The spies sent. 

(a) Their discovery. 2: 1-7. 

(b) Their pledge to Rahab. 2 : 8-14. 

(c) Their escape. 2: 15-22. 

(d) Their report. 2 : 22-24. 

III. Crossing the Jordan. Josh. 3:1-17. 

(i) The people instructed. 3 : 1-6. 

(2) Joshua encouraged. 3 : 7-8. 

(3) The people encouraged. 3 : 9-13. 

(4) Into the promised land. 3 : 14-17. 

IV. Commemoration of the event. Josh. 4: 1-24 . 
V. Effect on the Amorites. Josh. 5:1. 

Hebrew Destiny Was Providence. — ^All history is but a 
record of the development of the divine purpose. We can 
mark only stages of progress. These are milestones that 
indicate the advance made but do not reveal all the agen- 
cies that were influential in the slow moral progress. But 
the events uncover a moral order which lies beneath the 
plans of individuals and nations. Why was it that the He^ 
brew nation left the rich pasture lands of the Jordan val- 
ley when a conquest of the whole territory would have 
been comparatively easy and pushed across into Palestine, 
where they knew trouble and war and death awaited them? 
It was the compulsion of an impulse which it is impossible 
to justify on the ground of pecuniary benefits. 

It was the same high purpose and divine call that had 
moved Abraham to seek that same country. Men and 
nations get into a current far beyond their control and are 
hurried along, unconscious of the whole meaning of their 
lives. The Israelites did not understand their own mission ;; 
they did not comprehend the wisdom in their course. The 



IN THE BIBLE. 141 

world to-day may fathom its meaning. The fate of Reu- 
ben, Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh would have been 
the fate of the whole nation had they settled east of the 
Jordan. Their environments would have led them into a 
nomadic life to which their nature and wilderness experi- 
ence predisposed them. Such a life was not compatible 
with their national destiny. In such a life their God-given 
system of government could not have been exercised. We 
do not mean that fertile soil is not conducive to good gov- 
ernment, but simply that the disposition and advancement 
of the Hebrews at this time favored a nomadic life. West 
of the Jordan, force of circumstances led them into an agri- 
cultural life. This insured a fixed abode and was condu- 
cive to piety and the administration of law. The inhabitants, 
topography, climate, and geographical location of Palestine 
favored the isolation so highly important to their religion 
and at the same time related them to the world in such 
a way as to develop a national life. They stood between 
the East and the West and were the agents in giving to 
Europe the spiritual worship of Jehovah. 

Crossing the Jordan. — We make no attempt to explain 
the miracle of the separation of the waters of the river. If 
it were due to natural causes, the marvel is as great that 
these causes should operate just then and there. The 
moral force of it is not obscure. Only a few miles from 
this place an angel had wrestled with Jacob to teach him 
that the land he was about to occupy was a gift of God. 
Now the children of Jacob needed the same lesson and it 
ws taught them by this remarkable intervention of Jeho- 
vah. The city of Adam was near the brook Jabbok, about 
thirty miles north of where the Israelites crossed the Jor- 
dan. To deepen and perpetuate the sense of reliance up- 
on God, they took stones from the bed of the river and 
builded an altar with them at Gilgal. This place was sit- 



142 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

iiated on the terrace of the river. It continued to be their 
headquarters and source of suppHes for several years. 
They kept the Tabernacle here until Shiloh was prepared 
for its reception. 

The Conquest of the Kings. — The children of Israel now 
began the task of conquering the native tribes of Pales- 
tine They landed in the territory of the Canaanites and 
moved first on Jericho which was really the key to the 
whole country 

ANALYSIS OF CHAPTERS 6-11. 

I. Siege of Jericho. Josh. 6: 1-27. 

(i) Joshua instructed. 6: 1-5. 

(2) Joshua's orders. 6: 6-7. 

(3) The city taken. 6: 8-17; 6: 20-21. 

(4) Directions as to spoil. 6: 18-19. 

(5) Rahab saved. 6: 22-25. 

(6) Curse pronounced on the rebuilder* of 

Jericho. 6 : 26-27. 

II. Siege of Ai. Josh. 7 : i — 8 : 29. 

(i) Report of the spies. 7 : 2-3. 

(2) Israel defeated. 7:4-5. 

(3) Effect on Joshua. 7 : 6-9. 

(4) Reason of defeat. 7 : 10-12. 

(5) The sin discovered. 7: 13-22. 

(6) The sin punished. 7 : 23-26. 

(7) Joshua encouraged. 8: 1-2. 

(8) Plans of the battle. 8: 3-9. 

(9) The battle. 8 : 10-29. 

III. Reading the Law. Josh. 8: 30-35. 

IV. League with the Gibeonites. Josh. 9: 1-27. 

(i) The embassy to Israel. 9: 1-13. 

(2) Peace concluded. 9:14-15. 

(3) Their deception discovered. 9: 16-21. 



IN THE BIBLE. 143 

(4) Condemned to perpetual bondage. 9: 
22-27. 
V. League of the five kings. Josh. 10: i — 11:23. 
(i) The contract. 10: 1-5. 

(2) First objective point. 10:4. 

(3) The Gibeonites appeal to Joshua. 10 : 6. 

(4) Joshua defeats the five kings. 10: 7-11. 

(5) Joshua commands the sun to stand still. 

10: 12-14. 

(6) The pursuit. 10: 15-27. 

(7) Makkedah and Libnah taken. 10: 28-30. 

(8) Lachish, Eglon^ Hebron, etc., taken. 10: 

31-43. 

(9) Other victories. 11:1-23. » 

The Battles. — The battles between Israel and the Canaan- 
ite kings were so arranged that they became object lessons 
to the chosen nation. Jericho, the key to Western Pales- 
tine was first taken. It is not at all probable that it was 
inaccessible by the ordinary modes of warfare. The rea- 
son for the miracle which gave it to the Hebrews must be 
found along another line. East of the Jordan they were 
obliged to fight for all they got. Palestine was theirs by 
divine promise and God secures it to them by his direct 
intervention. The angel had taught the same lesson to Ja- 
cob at the brook Jabbok when he came to take possession 
of the land. The intervention was so direct that no one 
could mistake it and so well arranged that it would incul- 
cate a deep sense of their dependence on God. 

The defeat of the Hebrews at Ai and the wonderful suc- 
cess of the army after the detection and punishment of 
Achan's sin would impress the nation deeply with a sense 
of God's holy character. We make no attempt to explain 
these things through the ordinary operation of natural 
causes. The reason that the fall of Jericho and the length- 



144 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

ening of the day are criticised by sceptics more frequently 
than some of the New Testament miracles is, that they are 
more in the domain of what is called natural science. A 
miracle is simply the divine will, ever present and potent 
in the universe, operating in matter or spirit in another way 
than the ordinary. 

The Law Read. — These victories prepared the way for 
an event without parallel in history. God had command- 
ed that when they entered the promised land they should 
erect an altar on Mount Ebal^ write the law on stones cov- 
ered with plaster and read it to the people. Deut. 27: 1-8. 
Therefore, men, women and children leave Gilgal on the 
bank of the Jordan and push their way across the country 
to a place where Abraham and Jacob had both encamped, 
and where they were to bury the bones of Joseph. A 
thousand years before Socrates was born the Hebrew na- 
tion met on this sacred spot and gave public assent to a 
code of laws so generous, so pure and so lofty that modern 
legislators may well make them a copy. Then they re- 
turned to Gilgal to complete the conquest. 

The Command to Exterminate the Canaanites. — It is some- 
times claimed that these wars of the Hebrews are out of 
harmony with the New Testament spirit. It is true that 
God commanded the extermination of whole tribes, and 
failure to do so was a criminal disobedience for which a 
heavy penalty was exacted. Judges 2 : 2. Th^ difficulty 
to some extent disappears when we remember that God's 
purpose in the nation was a pure and spiritual worship. 
The worship of the tribes of Canaan was so foul and de- 
grading that a civilized state would destroy it, even if to 
do so required the severest measures. The frequent lap- 
ses of the Israelites into idolatry makes it easy to predict 
what the fate of the nation would have been had they quiet- 
ly settled among the heathen tribes of Palestine. They 



IN THE BIBLE. 145 

were not permitted to destroy them until the wickedness 
of the Canaanites was full. God gave them time and 
chance to repent. He brought to bear upon them the 
strongest arguments known to a barbarous race, narnely, 
the miraculous help afforded his people ever since they left 
Egypt. Rahab knew of these things. She doubtless gave 
the sense of the whole city of Jericho to the spies. Josh. 
2: 8-1 1. The Gibeonites knew of God's care over the Is- 
raelites, else they would not have submitted so readily to 
the slavery imposed upon them. Rahab's salvation indi- 
cates what the result would have been to all had they turn- 
ed to the Lord. The two alternatives were before them. 
They were free to choose and they made the choice. 

The general conscience of all ages indorses the destruc- 
tion of the tribes of Palestine. The drama has always been 
an interesting department of human literature. Public 
sentiment sets its limits. The voice of the people demands 
that the good triumph over the bad. lago must be over- 
thrown, Shylock and Macbeth must be exposed and de- 
feated. The very sense of justice that is satisfied with the 
overthrow of the evil in the drama demands the overthrow 
of the Canaanites. 

The defeat of the evil is a work of mercy. Stan- 
ley quotes Doctor Arnold as saying: 'The Israelites' 
sword in its bloodiest executions wrought a work of mercy 
for all the countries of the earth to the very end of the 
world. They seem of very small importance to us now, 
those perpetual contests with the Canaanites and Midian- 
ites and the Ammonites and the Philistines with which the 
Books of Joshua and the Judges and Samuel are almost 
filled. We may half wonder that God should interfere in 
such quarrels or have changed the course of nature in or- 
der to give one of the nations of Palestine the victory over 
another. But in these contests, on the fate of one of these 



146 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

nations of Palestine the happiness of the human race de- 
pends. The IsraeHtes fought not for themselves only, 
but for us. It might follow that they should thus be ac- 
counted the enemies of all mankind. It might be that they 
were tempted by their very distinctness to despise other 
nations ; still they did God's work — still they preserved 
unhurt the seed of eternal life, and were the ministers of 
blessing to all other nations^ even though they themselves 
failed to enjoy it." 

ANALYSIS OP CHAPTERS, JOSH. 13-22. 

I. Bounds of the land not yet conquered. 13 : 1-14. 

11. Allotment of the territory, i^: 15 — 19: 51. 

III. The Tabernacle set up at Shiloh. 18: 1-2. 

IV. Cities of refuge appointed. 20: 1-9. 

V. Forty-eight cities given to the Levites. 21 : 1-42. 

VI. The land had rest. 21 : 43-45. 

VII. The two tribes and a half dismissed to their in- 
heritance. 22 \ 1-9. 

VIII. They build an altar at Jordan. 22 : 10. 

IX. Its purpose explained to the nation. 22: 11-34. 

X. Joshua's farewell. 23 : i — 24 :28. 

XL His death. 24: 29-31. 

II.— THE SUCCESSION OF JUDGES. 

It will help us to a clear apprehension of this period of 
Jewish history to review briefly the national environments 
of the time. The wisdom and equity of their laws were 
incomparably superior to anything the world has ever 
known. Their religious enactments were peculiarly 
adapted to preserve their worship, the purity of which and 
its power to exalt the race points to infinite - wisdom 
prompted by infinite love. 

I. The tribes were widely scattered and the dangers 
and hardships of travel rendered a close fellowship among 
them very difficult. 



IN THE BIBLE. 147 

2. Their numbers and power would make an alliance 
with them not at all distasteful to the surrounding heathen 
nations. 

3. The disposition peculiar to uncultured nations to in- 
corporate the sensuous and superstitious into their wor- 
ship predisposed them toward the false religions of their 
neighbors. 

For these reasons the unification of the people into a na- 
tion in any way up to the merit of their civil constitution 
was long deferred. The national festivals could not be 
observed to any great extent. Their religion would, there- 
fore, fail to exert so strong a unifying influence as it would 
have done under other conditions. The national hope 
would wane until it would not kindle any great enthusiasm 
of an abiding nature. Spasmodic outbursts might be ex- 
pected, the violence of which would be all the greater be- 
cause of the intermittent character of their devotion. Grad- 
ually these outbursts would become less frequent and 
would affect the nation less widely. The Levites, scattered 
as they were, could not act in such concert as to make 
themselves felt as a unifying influence. These things reflect 
light on this period of the nation's history. 

ANALYSIS. 

I. Prelude to the story of the Judges. Judges i : 

1—3 ' 4- 

(i) Judah and Simeon combine forces, i : 1-3. 

(2) Their successes, i : 4-1 1. 

(3) Othniel marries Caleb's daughter, i : 

12-15. 

(4) The children of Moses' father-in-law join 

themselves to Judah. i : 16. 

(5) Further successes, i : 17-20. 

(6) The Benjaminites fail to conquer their 

territorv. i : 21. 



148 



PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 



11. 



(7) Conquest by the house of Joseph. i : 
22-26. 
(8) The tribes make the heathen tributaries to 

them. I : 27-36. 
(9) Judgment pronounced. 2 : 1-5. 

(10) The fidehty of the first generation. 2 : 6-10. 

(11) Bird's eye view of the wickedness of suc- 

ceeding generations and their punish- 
ments. 2: II — 3: 4 
Chart of Judges. 





Oppression 




Deliverer. 


Rest. 




1 By Mesopotamia 


8yrs. 


Othniel 


40 yrs. 


Judges 3:5-11 


2 By Moabites 


18 yrs. 


B;hud 

Shamgar's victory 
over the Philistines 


80 yrs. 


Judges 3:12-30 
Judges 3:31 


3 By Canaanites 


20 yrs. 


Deborah and Barak 


40 yrs. 


Judges 4:1-24 


4 By Midianites 


7 yrs. 


Gideon 


40 yrs. 


Judges 6-.2-7:25 




Attempt of the people to establish a kingdom^ 


Judges 8:22-23 




Attemipt of Abimelech to establish a kingdom. 


Judges 9:1-57 




Tola Judge 


Judges 10:1-2 




Jair Judge, coinciding with the first 20 years of E)li. 


Judges 10:3-5 



SYNCHRONOUS EVENTS. 



West Jordan. 


East Jordan 




Philistine op'n 






Ammonite op. 


18 yrs. 


Judg. 10:6-8 


40 years. 






Jephthah judge 


6 yrs. 


Judg. 11:1-12-7 


I^ast years of Eli 


20 yrs. 


1 Sam. 3, 4 


Ibzan judge 




Judg. 12:8-10 


and first yrs. of 




Judges 13:2— 


Elon judge 


10 yrs. 


Judg. 12:11-12 


Samuel 


20 yrs. 


16:31 


Abdon judge 


8 yrs. 


Judg. 12:13-15 


Samson Defeat 






4 






of the Philistines 




1 Sam. 7:1-14 









III. Significant Events. 

(i) Song of Deborah and Barak. Judges 5 : 

1-31.^ 

(2) A Levite hired to idolatry. Judges 17: 

(3) Campaign of the tribe of Dan. Judges 18 : 

(4) Sin of the tribe of Benjamin. Judges 19: 

1-28. 



IN THE BIBLE. ' 149 

(5) The tribe punished. Judges 19: 29 — 20: 

48. 

(6) Benjamin reinstated. Judges 21 : 1-25. 
VI. Picture of private life in Israel dufing the period 

of the Judges. Ruth, chaps. 1-4. 

The Judgeship. — i. The Judge held his office for life. 
This is an explicit statement in regard to most of them. His 
administration ends with an account of his death. When 
the Judge died central executive authority ceased. 

2. No effort was made to confine the supreme execu- 
tive authority to any tribe. Othniel was of the tribe of 
Judah, Ehud of Benjamin, Deborah of Naphtali, Gideon 
of Manasseh, Samuel of Levi. 

3. The occasion of the elevation of anyone to the office 
of Judge was generally a crisis, either national or tribal. 
The occasion brought the man to the front. 

4. Whether the jurisdiction of the Judge was always 
more than tribal or not^ we have reason to believe that his 
elevation to office was the will of the people. It depended 
on his ability to arouse the nation to action and his success 
secured the voice of the people. Jephthah and Samuel 
illustrate this point. 

5. The authority of the Judge at first extended to war 
and peace. After a successful campaign he was related 
to the adjudication of civil and criminal cases. His authority 
was limited by the Mosaic constitution and his military ex- 
ploits were to be in harmony with the Mosaic statutes. 

6. The office of the Judge was not hereditary . 

The Government by Judges. — The government by Judges 
was well adapted to the stage of development and the en- 
vironments of the Israelites at that time. No policy could 
have been better during their wilderness wanderings and 
during the conquest of the land. The people were then 
massed in such narrow space that administration from a 



150 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

central government was speedy and easy. Conditions 
changed vastly when the tribes took possession of the ter- 
ritory allotted to them. And still their degree of culture 
rendered government by Judges best for them even in these 
conditions. It is inconceivable that a line of kings at this 
early stage of their history would have kept a court at- 
tached to the worship of Jehovah. The influence of a king 
and his court to lead the people into idolatry was after- 
wards demonstrated to be very great. Although revolu- 
tion might have overthrown idolatrous kings from time to 
time and reinstated pure worship, yet this would not have 
educated towards a stable government? The hope of a 
kingdom is in the fixity of its line of rulers. It is gener- 
ally better for a nation to bear ills than to overthrow ruth- 
lessly existing government. Idolatry was less liable to 
take hold on the national life under Judges than it would 
have been under kings. 

This state of affairs, however, could not be permanent. 
It is altogether possible to construct an ideal society in 
which a government such as the Hebrews enjoyed at this 
time would be both permanent and satisfactory. But God 
is wiser than man and adapts his methods to human na- 
ture as it really is. The period of the Judges was one of 
transition. It was God's purpose that some day this gov- 
ernment should change to a limited monarchy. Their fail- 
ure to drive out the Canaanites and their familiar relations 
to these tribes led to irregularities, which often brought the 
judgments of God upon them. The trend of influence was 
to separate them more and more from one another in sym- 
pathy and interest. This effect is seen in that, during the 
closing years of the Judges, the east and west sections of 
the country became independent of each other, and that in 
Palestine proper contemporaneous judges were executing 
the same office in different localities. If the nation be pre- 



IN THE BIBLE. 151 

served intact^ a kingdom was the inevitable. Any one who 
has watched the growth of a new idea in politics will have 
noticed the slowness with which it impresses itself on the 
national conscience. And yet there is a steady increase 
in influence. The idea of a kingdom had quietly been 
taking hold of the Hebrews during all these years. It is 
seen in the effort to make Gideon king, and the following 
which Abimelech had when he attempted to elevate him- 
self to this office. These very events would give a mighty 
stimulus to the idea. But this was not the natural trend 
of development in the conditions in which the Israelites 
were placed. The natural direction would have been to- 
ward complete tribal independence. Their history proves 
that this idea was not without its power. We can attri- 
bute the supremacy of the national idea to nothing but the 
operation of those laws given by Moses in the wilderness^ 
sealed home to the national heart by the Spirit of God. It 
was the indefinite sense of the same high destiny that had 
led them to cross the Jordan. It was Providence. 

Gideon. — We have said that the period of the Judges was 
a transition from the simple judgeship as illustrated in Mo- 
ses and Joshua to the purely kingly. 

Transition periods are always marked by characteristics 
of the preceding age, and types of the succeeding age. 
Gideon was a m.an of commanding personality. He was 
generous, brave and cool-headed. He united the general- 
ship of a Joshua and the deep devotion of a David. De- 
clining the throne of Israel he ruled in regal splendor. His 
administration was a great stimulus to the nation's desire 
for a king. Abimelech was the natural product of the 
splendor and corruption of a polygamous court. Had it 
not been for the effect of Gideon's rule on the people 
Abimelech could not have succeeded in his mad effort to 
become king. The influence of the Judges declines rap- 



162 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

idly after the fall of Abimelech. After Gideon^ no man 
occupied a prominent place in the national life until Sam- 
uel^ and he is great largely in his relation to the kingdom, 
and the rise of the Prophetic Order. 

Private Life During the Judges. — The student must read 
between the lines if he get a true conception of this period 
of Hebrew history. The Book of the Judges simply gives 
an account of the political crises of the time. Very little 
is given of the details of private life and yet quite as much 
as in the histories of Greece and Rome. 

When the times of servitude and war are compared in 
duration to the times of rest, the picture changes from one 
of bloody anarchy with a few years of prosperity as a back- 
ground to one of peace and quiet with a dark background of 
war. This is true of the history of any nation. The 
private life of the people does not come to the surface. 
The Book of Ruth presents a scene of this period, beauti- 
ful in its simplicity and significant of happy^ peaceful, law- 
abiding life. 

The acts of Jael and Jephthah have been the 
subject of adverse comment by some who have a desire to 
minimize, at least, the divine agency in these wars of the 
Hebrews. The mistake grows out of a wrong conception 
of God's relation to the human will. When these acts are 
viewed from the standing point of the times in which they 
occurred, they do not seem so strange. No more is it just 
to demand that the age of the Judges be interpreted in the 
light of the altruism of this day than to demand that the 
actions of popes and puritans be interpreted in the same 
light. The human will remains free and when prejudice or 
passion sweeps it from its moorings of Mosaic charity, God 
does not interfere with a miraculous display of his disap- 
probation. These touches give Hebrew history a value it 
would not otherwise have. They enable the student to 



IN THE BIBLE. 153 

secure a fairly correct conception of the civilization of that 
age, and thus qualify hini to see the point and purpose in 
the divine object lesson. 

The whole history was objective instruction of the Is- 
raelites. This could not raise them to the sublime height 
of their mission to the world. It kept them from plung- 
ing irredeemably into idolatry. Toward the close of the 
period a new element was introduced. With Samuel 
dawned a new era in their education — that of prophetism. 



164 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 



VIII. 

THE ESTABLISHMENT OF KINGS AND THE RISE 
OF THE PROPHETIC ORDER. 



I. Samuel's prophecy to Eli. i Sam. 3: io-31. 
11. Its fulfillment, i Sam. 4 : 1-22. 

III. The Ark taken by the Philistines. 5 : 1-12. 

IV. The Ark returned, i Sam. 6: 1-12. 

V. The Bath-shemites smitten, i Sam. 6: 13-21. 
VI. Samuel calls on the people to repent, i Sam. 7: 
1-6. 
VII. While Samuel prays they conquer the Philistines. 
I Sam. 7: 7-17. 
VIII. The popular demand for a king, i Sam. 8, 9, 10. 
(i) The plea of the people. 8: 1-5. 

(2) Samuel displeased. 8 : 6-9. 

(3) Samuel's warning. 8: 10-18. 

(4) The people persistent. 8 : 19-22. 

(5) Samuel anoints Saul. 9: i — 10: i. 

(6) Samuel's charge to Saul. 10: 2-16. 

(7) God's choice of a king made public. 10: 

17-23. 

(8) Samuel's charge to the people. 10: 24-25. 

(9) A minority reject Saul. 10: 26-27. 
IX. Saul made king, i Sam. 11 : 1-15. 

(i) The Ammonites invade Jabesh-gilead. 11: 

1-3- 

(2) Saul rescues them. 11: 4-1 1. 

(3) Saul made king. 11: 12-15. 



IN THE BIBLE. 155 

X. Samuel inaugurates the kingdom. i Sam. 12: 

1-25. 

(i) He vindicates himself. 12 : 1-5. 

(2) He reproves and exhorts the people. 12: 
6-25. 
The Kingdom Established. — In reading the account of the 
establishment of the kingdom the mind is puzzled to har- 
monize this step, evidently an advance in their secular 
government, with Samuel's hesitation and God's protest. 
The period of the Judges was far from an ideal secular 
government for the Israelites of Samuel's day. It was 
adapted to the environments of the nation at the time it 
was instituted, but different conditions now existed requir- 
ing different treatment. That the nation did not break up 
into independent tribes which would finally have lost them- 
selves in the current of Asiatic nations was due to the re- 
ligion of Jehovah. The immediate causes of the demand 
for a king on the part of the people were : 

1. A growing sentiment toward disunion of the tribes. 
This appears in the synchronous events in the history of 
the east and west Jordanic sections during the closing 
years of the Judges. 

2. The incursions of the Ammonites and Philistines 
from which south and east Palestine suffered much. 

3. The fear that the degenerate sons of Samuel could 
not hold the nation together in a struggle against the en- 
croachments of these powerful enemies as well as subject 
it to the sufferings which arise from corrupt rulers. 

4. A desire for the pomp of a regal administration. This 
desire is peculiarly strong among uncultured people and 
especially oriental nations. The hold it would have on the 
Hebrew mind may be appreciated in the light of their cul- 
ture and environments. 

God*s Attitude to the Kingdom. — Samuel was old, and he 



156 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

felt that the request for a king was an insinuation that his 
administration was inefficient. But the spirit in which the 
request for a king was made rejected God not Samuel. The 
error lay in the spirit of the people, not in a desire for a 
change in chief magistracy. It is plain that the interests 
of the nation required the office to be clothed with different 
attributes. Conditions demanded it. Whether it should 
be called a kingly rule or a judgeship was practically indif- 
ferent. At the birth of the nation in the wilderness they 
had chosen God to be supreme ruler. The people now 
sought to elevate one of their number to that position. Mo- 
ses, Joshua, and most of the Judges recognized their office 
to be that of viceroy of God. Had their request not ig- 
nored their former contract but simply implied that it was 
their wish to enlarge the powers and responsibilities of 
their human ruler it would have met with no opposition 
from God. But God did not abdicate the throne and leave 
them a prey to idolatry and war. The high destiny which 
had led them into these very conditions was the divine will. 
He therefore maintained His relation to them and at the 
same time gave them a king. He established a kingdom 
which protected them from the absoluteness of oriental 
sovereigns. 

The Hebrew King. — 'In Deut. 17: 14-20 we learn that the 
divine plan for the Israelites included the establishment of 
a monarchy when the time was ripe for it. The govern- 
ment by Judges was best adapted to the nation at first. 
It is also the form of government best adapted to a perfect 
state of society; but, as we have shown above, it was not 
most efficient in the state of affairs into which the He- 
brews had brought themselves. Much light will be re- 
flected on the office of the Hebrew king by a study of the 
law concerning it. 

I. The people were permitted to exercise their right 



IN THE BIBLE. 157 

of franchise. They were free to elect their king from their 
own number, provided they should choose the one whom 
God nominated. "Thou shalt in anywise set him king 
over thee whom the Lord thy God shall choose." At first 
sight these conditions seem to nullify each other. But 
they mean only that the two parties, God and the people, 
must concur in the choice. No other interpretation is 
fair. The president of the United States makes many ap- 
pointments which require the concurrence of the senate to 
legalize them. Here one party in our own government ap- 
points and another ratifies. There may be disagreement, 
and the senate may refuse to vote for the choice of the 
president, yet it does not introduce discord into our nation- 
al system. So it was in the Hebrew nation. When Sam- 
uel anointed Saul it was with the intent that he might know 
the high destiny to which God ordained him and thus have 
an opportunity to make spiritual and intellectual prepara- 
tion for it. As yet it was altogether a private affair. Some 
time afterward Samuel called the people together and pub- 
licly indicated God's choice by the use of the lot. A strong 
minority of the people repudiated the choice. Proceed- 
ings were stopped and Saul returned to his home a pri- 
vate citizen, but a candidate for the throne. An emer- 
gency arose which gave Saul a chance to prove his worthi- 
ness as a judge and soldier. Samuel called another as- 
sembly of the people, and the unanimous vote was for Saul.^ 
But not until after this event was it said of Saul : "They 
made him king." The same principle is illustrated in the 
elevation of David to the throne. It is also seen in the re- 
volt of the ten tribes under the leadership of Jeroboam. In 
fact, the divine designation of leaders in the Hebrew 
economy was never construed to exclude the people from 
the free exercise of the right of suffrage. 

2. These conditions fulfilled, the office of the king was 



158 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

to be hereditary. The king had the right to decide which 
of his sons should succeed him. This provision often pre- 
vented civil war. But the people must concur. It was 
because the northern tribes refused to ratify Solomon^s 
choice of Rehoboam that the nation was divided. 

3. The concurrent will of God and the people could 
change the line of kings by taking the office from one fam- 
ily or tribe and giving it to another. They actually did 
so at the death of Saul. David^ however, did not assume 
any kingly prerogatives, although he was the anointed of 
God, until the people agreed to it. It was some time be- 
fore all the tribes acknowledged him, but until they did he 
assumed no control of them. He made no effort to sub- 
due those who adhered to the house of Saul. Of course, 
when they made war upon him he fought with his usual 
energy and skill. 

4. The Hebrew king recognized that he derived his au- 
thority from the consent of the people. A very significant 
event is recorded in i Sam. 14 : 27-46. Jonathan had won 
a great victory over the Philistines. By the rash oath of 
his father the king, he was about to be put death. The 
people rose as one man and compelled Saul to withdraw 
the sentence. They did not simply petition the king to 
save Jonathan. There is the ring of authority in what they 
said : "And the people said unto Saul, Shall Jonathan die 
who hath wrought this great salvation in Israel? God for- 
bid. As the Lord liveth there shall not one hair of his 
head fall to the ground." 

5. The Hebrew king was subject to law. He was by 
no means an unlimited monarch. He was not to multi- 
ply horses. He was not allowed to marry many wives. 
Both these restrictions were peculiar to the nation and 
would distinguish it from all other oriental monarchies. 
The king's authority embraced ecclesiastical as well as 



IN THE BIBLE. 15d 

civil and military affairs. He could depose the high priest 
or even execute him. He could also remit punishment 
where the infliction of it would have been manifestly un- 
just. These restrictions on the king were not altogether 
in harmony with the oriental spirit of the Hebrews. As 
the nation grew stronger there were many transgressions 
of the Mosaic law. These were always accompanied by 
a low state of morals and the introduction of heathen prac- 
tices. Sometimes the king was worse than the people, 
but we believe that^ then as now^ the life of the ruler was 
a fair index to the sentiment of the people. 

The Prophetic Office. — The establishment of the kingdom 
made the introduction of the prophetic office necessary. 
The election of a king was the signal to begin a career of 
conquest. The concentration of civil authority would 
stimulate the growth of an ambition to outdo other nations 
in all those things which make for national glory. A pre- 
disposition would exist in the new kingdom toward idol 
worship because all the nations of which they knew any- 
thing related the pomp and show of regal power to their 
religion. The objective teaching of divine intervention in 
the affairs of the Israelites could bring them only to a -per- 
tain stage of development. Intelligent obedience and per- 
sistent loyalty to God must rest on a sense of his spiritual 
presence and holiness. This objective teaching must be 
pressed home to the national conscience. The time, there- 
fore, was ripe for the establishment of a line of prophets. 

We quote here from Mr. John Stuart Mill. "The Egyp- 
tian hierarchy, the paternal despotism of China were very 
fit instruments for carrying those nations up to the point 
of civilization which they attained. But having reached 
that point, they were brought to a permanent halt, for 
want of mental liberty and individuality — requisites of im- 
provement which the institutions that had carried them 



160 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

thus far entirely incapacitated them from acquiring ; and as 
the institutions did not break down and give place to oth- 
ers,, further improvement stopped. In contrast with these 
nations let us consider the example of an opposite char- 
acter, afforded by another and a comparatively insignifi- 
cant Oriental people, the Jews. They, too, had an abso- 
lute monarchy and hierarchy. These did for them what 
was done for other Oriental races by their institutions — 
subdued them to industry and order and gave them a na- 
tional life. But neither their kings nor their priests ever 
obtained, as in those other countries, the exclusive mould- 
ing of their character. Their religion gave existence to 
an inestimably precious unorganized institution, the Order 
(if it may be so termed) of Prophets. Under the protec- 
tion, generally though not always effectual of their sacred 
character, the prophets were a power in the nation, often 
more than a match for kings and priests, and kept up, in 
that little corner of the earth, the antagonism of influence, 
which is the only security for continued progress. Re- 
ligion consequently was not there — what it has been in so 
many other places — a consecration of all that was once es- 
tablished and a barrier against further improvement. * * * 
Conditions more favorable to progress could not easily ex- 
ist; accordingly the Jews, instead of being stationary, like 
other Asiatics, were, next to the Greeks, the most progres- 
sive people of antiquity, and conjointly with them, have 
been the starting point and main propelling agency of mod- 
ern cultivation.'^ 

Rise of the Order of Prophets. — The history of the pro- 
phetic order begins with Samuel. There had been pro- 
phets before ; Moses is spoken of as a great prophet, Ba- 
laam prophesied, Deborah was a prophetess, and others 
might be mentioned. But it is from Samuel to Malachi 
that we have a succession which justifies the term. Order 



IN THE BIBLE. 161 

of Prophets. Samuel founded a school of prophets at Ra- 
mah. Others were afterward established at Bethel, Gil- 
gal, Jericho, and finally at Jerusalem. Young men attend- 
ed them in great numbers and were called "The Sons of the 
Prophets." Here they were no doubt instructed in the 
law and the religion of the Hebrews. It was from this 
time that God used them so largely in the development of 
the religious side of the nation. The office was dependent 
entirely on the personal relation of the prophet to his di- 
vine instructor. He was not set apart by the franchise of 
the people nor by the imposition of hands, but by the 
movements of the divine Spirit through the conscience. 
Sometimes God saw fit to make wicked men his media of 
communication These are not included in the prophetic 
order and do not effect the fact that the prophet bore a 
close relation to God. 

The Prophefs Work. — Religion has always been made to 
do service to curiosity. It is not strange that the foretell- 
ing future events should be more promient in the minds 
of the Israelites than any other part of the prophet's mis- 
sion. For the same reason many Bible students to-day 
think of the prophet as one who foretold what was to come 
to pass. We do not seek to minimize this part of his mis- 
sion, yet it was the minor part of it. He was an interpreter 
of God's will to man. That will was embodied largely in 
the laws of the Mosaic code. The prophet instructed the 
people in these laws when peace prevailed and aroused 
them to patriotic action in times of war. Direct revela- 
tions were often made concerning their relation to other 
nations. Their deliverances were often incorporated into 
their religious system, advancing it to a higher plane as 
the people were able to understand it. In Israel's later 
history, when the defection of the rulers was great, the 
prophets were the reformers. Their preparation for the 



162 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

office was a conscious endowment from God. God chose 
men whose character fitted them specially to the pecu- 
liar need of the times. The divine influence did not over- 
ride the natural or acquired endowments of the man. In- 
formation was imparted to them in several ways. 

1. Through dreams^ as at times with Samuel, Nathan^ 
Elijah and others. 

2. Through ecstatic trance, as with Balaam, John, and 
Peter. 

3. The more common mode was through the. divine im- 
pulse given to the prophet's own thoughts. This is ap- 
parent from the style of the prophecy and the close con- 
nection of the message to the prophet's own affections and 
experiences. 

In this light prophetism stands in very close relationship 
to the Mosaic institutions. It helped largely to secure 
obedience to the precepts of the law. At the same time 
it developed the great doctrines of God, of man, and of re- 
demption which lay at the bottom of the Mosaic institu- 
tions but which would not have come to the surface except 
through this agency. Christ appears more plainly in the 
prophets than in Moses. They teach more explicitly the 
doctrine of the resurrection and the future state. Moses 
urges Tess strenuously than they, the folly of mechanical 
forsnalism and ceremonialism. The positive teaching of 
Moses did not relate the nation to the world as a medium 
of blessing to it, but this comes out prominently in the 
teaching of the prophets. True the Mosaic teaching has 
these all in germ, but it remained for the prophets to devel- 
op them until they became the conservative influences of 
the nation. 

Abuses of Prophetism. — Scarcely any good thing has 
long obtained in any nation without abuses. A false pro- 
phet could not claim legal protection, but the difficulty lay 



IN THE BIBLE. 163 

in proving his statements to be false, in that they pertained 
so largely to the future. Religious enthusiasts arose who 
assumed the name of prophet. No doubt they often in- 
spired the people with religious fervor and this was well. 
But religious ecstasy is dangerous to the intellectual and 
spiritual interests of true religion whenever it dominates 
the silent operations of the Spirit. The prophetic characters 
which come down to us as exercising a permanent influ- 
ence on affairs, while they felt the ecstasy, rose superior to 
it. The feeling did not cripple the intellectual powers nor 
distort their processes ; they only stimulated them. In the 
later history of the nation some of these pseudo-prophets 
hired themselves to the king to predict only what the king 
wanted to hear^ regardless of the mind of God. But with 
all these abuses the prophetic order gave to the nation, A 
higher interpretation of the divine purpose concerning Is- 
rael than they ever had before. 



PART IV. 
THE KINGDOM. 

The Kingdom United. The Kingdom Divided. 
The Fall of the Kingdom. 



IN THE BIBLE. 167 



IX. 

THE KINGDOM UNITED. 



The Opportunity of the Hebrew Nation. — It is sometimes 
remarked that God's plan for the Israelites did not include 
vastness of territory nor commanding national supremacy. 
A more careful study of the history of the nation reveals 
the fact that its greatness along these lines was sadly lim- 
ited by failure to come up to the measure of its constitu- 
tional law. The government rested on basal principles of 
truth which have stood for all time. Continued and un- 
swerving devotion to these principles would have pledged 
Jehovah to protect and foster the nation. Their defeats 
and national restrictions were all self-induced. It is not 
diffxult to see that the wisest plan was to condition their 
prosperity and restrict them to narrow territory. It was 
because they^ the chosen people of God, failed to rise to 
the measure of their calling and privilege. It shall be our 
endeavor while studying the history of the Theocratic 
Monarchy to trace these limitations to their true cause and 
to discover their wisdom. They were the divine method 
to preserve the true worship of God, a worship which has 
always been the stimulus and directing agency in all really 
permanent advancement. At the same time let us not for- 
get that the opportunity of the Hebrew nation was as wide 
as the earth and as long as time. 

SAUL AND HIS REIGN. 

It is impossible to understand the administration of Saul 
apart from the man. His reign was a transitional period 
and himself a transitional character. In him the office of 



168 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

judge merged into that of a king. His administration be- 
gan in the simplicity of a judgeship and ended in the regal 
splendor of a court. All transitional epochs and charac- 
ters are full of contradictions and Saul and his times are no 
exception to the rule. 

ANALYSIS OF I SAMUEL, CHAPTERS 13-31. 

I. Saul sacrifices, i Sam. 13 : 1-16. 
(i) The occasion. 13 : 1-8. 

(2) His excuse. 13 : 9-12. 

(3) Samuel's prophecy. 13:13-16. 

n. The impoverished condition of the Hebrews, i 
Sam. 13 : 17-23. 
ni. Jonathan's victory, i Sam. 14: 1-23. 
(i) The plan of attack. 14: i-io. 

(2) The victory. 14: 11-14. 

(3) The pursuit. 14:15-23. 

IV. Jonathan rescued by the people. i Sam. 14: 
24-48. 
(i) Saul's oath. 14 : 24-26. 

(2) Jonathan's offense. 14: 26-30. 

(3) The spoil seized. 14:31-35. 

(4) Jonathan detected. 14: 36-43. 

(5) The people rescue him. 14 : 44-48. 
V. The house of Saul, i Sam. 14: 4Q-52. 

VI. God rejects Saul, i Sam. 15: 1-35. 
(i) The sin of Saul. 15 : 1-9. 

(2) The Lord sends Samuel to him. 15: lo-ii. 

(3) The interview. 15: 12-23. 

(4) The sentence. 15: 24-31. 

(5) Agag slain. 15:32-33- 

(6) Samuel leaves Saul forever. 15 : 34-35. 
VII. Samuel anoints David, i Sam. 16: 1-13. 

VIII. David introduced to Saul, i Sam. 16: 14-23. 



IN THE BIBLE. 



169 



IX. David kills Goliath, i Sam. 17: 1-58. 
X. Jonathan's Love for David, i Sam. 18:1-4. 
XI. Saul as rejected king, i Sam. 18:5 
(i) His first effort to kill David. 

42. 
(2) David's flight. 21 : 1-15. 



31 -IS- 
18: 6 — 20: 



(3) His kindred resort to him. 22 : 1-4. 

(4) Saul slays Ahimelech and the priests of 

Nob. 22\ 5-19. 

(5) Abiathar comes to David. 22 : 20-23. 

(6) David conquers the Philistines at Keilah. 

23 : 1-6. 

(7) Saul pursues him. 23 : 7-26. 

(8) Jonathan and David meet. 23 : 16-18. 

(9) An invasion of the Philistines calls Saul 

home. 23 : 27-29. 

10) Saul pursues David to En-gedi. 24 : 1-3. 

11) David spares his life and Saul returns 

home. 24: 4-22. 

12) The death of Samuel. 

13) David and Nabal. 25 

14) David marries Abigail. 

15) Saul pursues David. 



25: I. 

2-35- 

25 : 36-44. 
2(i\ 1-5. 



16) David again spares him. 2^ : 6-25. 

17) David takes refuge with Achish of Gath. 

2y\ 1-12. 

18) The Philistines prepare to invade Judah. 

28: 1-2. 

19) Saul consults the witch of En-dor. 28: 

3-25. 

20) The princes of the Philistines refuse to al- 
low David to accompany them. 29:1-11. 

21) David conquers the Amalekites. 30: 1-31. 

22) Saul's defeat and death. 31 : 1-13. 



170 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

The Character of the Man. — Saul was naturally well fitted 
to the work of consolidating the dislocated tribes of Is- 
rael. Noble and kingly in appearance, valiant in battle, 
enthusiastic for the nation^ he was a king after the people's 
own heart. He had that wild perversity of nature which 
is always associated wih ambition and power in those who 
are suddenly elevated to high position without previous 
preparation or self-discipline. Paroxysms of insane rage 
make dark, with bloody deeds and unjust persecution^ what 
otherwise would have been a brilliant career. Saul's relig- 
ion and morals were not blended. We have said that the 
authority of the Hebrew king lay in the mutual consent of 
the people and God. Saul could not rise to a sense of 
God's relation to the nation and his own relation to God. 
He did not see beyond the people and hence his administra- 
tion was made to conform to their wishes. They wanted a 
king in order to be like other nations, and their king to be 
like other kings. This disposition in Saul manifests itself 
very early in his reign. He could not wait the gradual un- 
folding of God's plan^ but rushed into the performance of 
religious services, altogether outside of his prerogatives, 
in a way that clearly indicates his failure to apprehend the 
basal truth of their national polity. Impending war was 
allowed to subordinate the religion of Jehovah which ought 
to have been made the center and circumference of every 
national enterprise. The same moral and spiritual ob- 
tuseness appears in his conduct during the campaign 
against the Amalekites. Required to ignore his own per- 
sonality and to act as the servant of God, he continually 
made his individual will supreme. He was often scrupu- 
lous in keeping the letter of the law but never rose to a 
conception of the spirit of it. 

But there was a brighter side to his character. He re- 
pented as only he can repent who has the elements of great- 



IN THE BIBLE. 171 

ness in him. His love for Jonathan, so pure and so re- 
freshing in the dark time, reveals a heart capable of great 
things. He loved David and, when uninfluenced by mad 
jealousy, treated him kindly. He was brave in battle and 
always found at his post of duty^ even when he knew that 
to fight was to die. His character was lovely in many 
ways. In private life he would have been a good man — 
a man of influence and power. But he was caught in a 
current of events for which he was ill prepared. He went 
down ; but his wrecked life turned the current towards sub- 
mission to central government and thus prepared the na- 
tion for the Theocratic Monarchy under David. 

His Work. — Saul did much for the nation. He laid the 
foundation for national glory and influence. Without uni- 
ty of purpose and harmony of activity the tribes would 
have fallen a prey to the surrounding nations. He stirred 
the dying embers of national hope, and prepared the peo- 
ple to submit to a central administration of affairs, although 
it might not be altogether in accord with their own ideas. 
Thus his work prepared the way for better things by edu- 
cating the people to submit to reform without revolution. 
He reigned about twenty years and died on the field nf 
battle. 

DAVID AND HIS REIGN. 

The Bible gives much space to history and biography, 
because these are the concrete side of truth. They are 
word pictures setting forth the great principles of divine 
government in its practical working. Systems of theology 
may be formulated from God's providences toward his cho- 
sen people, but the teaching that has greatest effect en 
human life is that in which the underlying principles are 
set home by practical illustrations. The Bible is a text- 
book of God to teach the human race his justice and mer- 
cy, the defection of man and the way of restoration to di- 



172 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

vine favor. Therefore^ the lessons of Bible history have 
to do largely with sin and restitution. But the extended 
biography of David has a further purpose. He was raised 
up to fulfill a mission to the church of all time for which 
a varied experience was a valuable preparation. His gieat- 
ness of soul as it appears in his treatment of the house of 
Saul, his ardent love for his children, his firm reliance on 
God, his buoyant nature and his courage to reform what 
he saw to be wrong in his own life are striking object les- 
sons to all who aspire to nobility of character. His afflic- 
tions, his heartaches over the waywardness of his children, 
dearer to him than his own life, and his deep penitence for 
his sins, bring him into closest sympathy with a sinning 
and repenting and suffering world. His songs come to us 
to-day, rich in the subtlest shades of deepest feeling. At 
times in minor strains they reveal a heart sadly dejected 
and then again they ring with the bold notes of a trium- 
phant faith. An extended biographical background is 
highly important to their great purpose in the Bible rec- 
ord. But in this study we are chiefly concerned with the 
history of the nation as the depository of the great truths 
of man's relation to God through the atonement of Christ. 
We shall not, therefore, undertake an extended study of 
the life of David. No character of the Old Testament is 
more widely or thoroughly known. While conscious of the 
fact that nothing conduces more to the development of 
what is worthiest in human life than a study of the deep ex- 
ercises of the soul as they appear in the Psalms, yet we are 
restricted to an effort to gather from this history only what 
has specific national reference. 

OUTLINE OF EVENTS OF SPECIFIC NATIONAL IMPORT. 

I. David's relation to the house of Saul. 

(i) To Jonathan. i Sam. i8: 1-4; 19: 1-7; 
20: 1-42. 



IN THE BIBLE. 173 

(2) Avenges the death of Saul. 2 Sam. i : 

1-16. 

(3) David's lament for Saul and Jonathan. 2 

Sam. 1 : 17-27. 

(4) David avenges the death of Ish-bosheth, 

Saul's son. 2 Sam. 4: 1-12. 

(5) His kindness to Mephibosheth Jonathan's 

son. 2 Sam. 9: 1-13. 
II. David becomes king. 

(i) Anointed by Judah. 2 Sam. 2: 1-4, 11. 

(2) Abner makes Ish-bosheth king. 2 Sam. 

2:8-11. 

(3) Civil war. 2 Sam. 2 : 12 — 3 : i. 

(4) Abner quarrels with Ish-bosheth. 3: 6-1 1. 

(5) Abner betrays him. 3: 12-21. 

(6) Abner's death. 3 : 22-39. 

(7) Death of Ish-bosheth. 4 : 5-8. 

(8) David anointed king over all Israel, 5 : 1-5. 

III. David makes Jerusalem his capital. 2 Sam. 5 : 

6-10. 

IV. He brings the Ark tO' Jerusalem. 2 Sam. 6 :i-23. 
V. He resolves to build a temple. 2 Sam. 7: 1-17. 

VI. David's wars with foreign enemies. 

(i) With the Philistines. 3 : 17-25. 

(2) Philistines, Moabites and Syrians. 8 : 1-18. 

(3) Ammonites and Syrians. 10: i — ii: i; 

12: 26-31. 
VII. Civil wars. 

(1) Absalom's conspiracy. 15: 1-12. 

(2) Dvid's flight. 15:13 — 16:14. 

(3) Absalom's defeat and death. 18: 1-33. 

(4) David's return. 19: 11-40. 

(5) Sheba's rebellion. 19 : 41 — 20 : 22. 
VIII. David makes Solomon king. 



174 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

(i) Adonijah attemps to seize the throne, i 
Kings 1 : 5-10. 

(2) Bath-sheba intercedes for Solomon. i 

Kings 1 : 11-21. 

(3) Nathan intercedes, i : 22-27. 

(4) Solomon anointed, i : 28-40. 

David a Man after God's Ozvn Heart. — Even a superficial 
study of David's story reveals a nobility of character and 
a capacity for great things far above the ordinary. Al- 
though his life was stained by some of the most heinous 
sins in the catalogue of crimes yet every student feels in 
him the touch of goodness as well as of greatness. These 
blots on his name are offset in a great degree by the sin- 
cere repentance of the man. A weak character never ac- 
knowledges a sin publicly^ and will always attempt to ex- 
plain away an error. But when the prophet Nathan brought 
David to a sense of his wickedness he immediately con- 
fessed his guilt and humbkd himself before God. The 
language of the 51st Psalm reveals how deeply he felt his 
guilt. David was so far in advance of his age that the 
Bible student is liable to judge him in the light of modern 
Christianity. Justice requires that we estimate the man 
in the light of the oriental ethics of that day. His grossest 
sins would not seem so black if compared with the preva- 
lent practices of the kings of the nations about him. No 
apology, however, will make black_, white. 

But the commendation of David that he was a tnan af- 
ter God's own heart has specific reference to his adminis- 
tration of the government It was widely known in the na- 
tion that he was God's choice to succeed Saul and yet he 
calmly waits the development of the divine plan. A human 
verdict would justify the persecuted David had he plunged 
the nation into civil war and waded to the throne through 
the blood of the royal family. Not until the death of Saul 



IN THE BIBLE. 175 

did he make any effort to secure what was his by divine 
appointment. His conduct in this matter must have grown 
out of a true conception of God's relation to the nation and 
the relation of the king to God and to the nation. Let us 
recall here that one of the fundamental principles of the 
Hebrew polity made God the supreme ruler of the nation. 
God did not abdicate the throne when Saul was made king. 
The relation of the Hebrew king to the nation has some- 
thing of a parallel in the relation that Herod of Christ^s 
time bore to the Roman government. Saul's ambition 
was to establish a kingship after the fashion of other ori- 
ental nations and this was in accord with the ijiind of the 
people. David, chosen of God to^be king, entered so 
heartily into the spirit of the Mosaic constitution that he 
made no attempt to coerce the will of the people. Through- 
out his whole reign we find the same willing subordination 
to God and hearty co-operation in his purposes for the na- 
tion. Abner and Ishbosheth attempted to usurp the 
throne^ not David. Their course grew out of either an 
ignorance of the true object of their national existence or 
an unwillingness from personal considerations to fall into 
line with the divine purpose. Abner made his capital east 
of the Jordan and little by little won back from the Philis- 
tines what had been lost at the death of Saul. When all 
Palestine was in his hand except Judah he turned his for- 
ces against David. 

Jerusalem Made the Capital of the Nation. — David reigned 
during the formative period of the Theocratic Monarchy of 
Israel. As soon as he was firmly established in his king- 
dom he located his government in a central city or capi- 
tal. The tribes had taken a long step forward when they 
passed from a growing sentiment toward tribal suprem- 
acy to a willing concurrence in national sentiment. And 
yet the lesson as we shall see below was only partly learn- 



176 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

-ed. It was important to develop this spirit, or even to 
maintain it^ that a fixed place should be established from 
which the ruler would issue his administration. He chose 
Jerusalem, either because he saw it to be best adapted to 
this end or because some of the promises of God to the 
nation clustered around it. It certainly was a wise choice. 
Its natural environments made it easy to be defended from 
the attack of enemies, and it was a little ofif the great high- 
way of Egyptian and Assyrian armies. This fact lessened 
the liability of the Israelites to become involved in the 
perpetual wars of these nations. 

The next move was to make Jerusalem the center of 
religious influence. David did this by preparing a place 
for the Ark of the Lord and bringing it to Jerusalem. He 
ordained priests and officers and singers from the Levites 
and inaugurated the splendor and stately ceremonialism 
v/hich attaches people so closely to a religion and holds 
them to it even after the true spirit of worship has dis- 
appeared from it and left nothing but the dryest forms. 
The wisdom of this policy appears when it is remembered 
that a people in the state of intellectual culture of the Is- 
raelites of David's time are always intensely religious. The 
wisdom of it appears still more plainly when we remember 
that God's purpose in the nation was religious. Their re- 
ligion was always the greatest cementing power in the na- 
tion. Political and religious considerations made it im- 
portant that the nation should look to its capital as the 
home of their faith and the seat of their king. Long pil- 
grimages to Jerusalem would be counted no hardship, for 
the imposing ritual of their religious ceremonies would 
gratify the worshipper and the splendor of the royal court 
would create zeal for the nation. 

National Institutions. — ^i. Military organization. This in 
all probability was instituted in Saul's time. He brought 



IN THE BIBLE. 177 

the army to a very high state of efficiency. It included 
all males in Israel capable of bearing arms. It could be 
called out in time of war or to meet any emergency. It 
was the national guard, and was divided into twelve parts 
or battalions, each of which was commanded by an officer 
from the regular army. The Commander-in-Chief of the 
army stood next to the king, and in the absence of the king 
had control of the whole force. During the reign of Da- 
vid this position was held by Joab, whose influence with 
the army was even greater than that of David. The body- 
guard of David, although containing some foreigners, was 
commanded by an Israelite, Benaiah, a valiant and devoted 
man. The six hundred who had been with David in his 
exile were still retained and were the nucleus of his army. 
These were divided into companies and well officered. 

2. Social and Moral Institutions. — Some of David's so- 
cial and moral institutions were for pastoral, agricultural 
and financial purposes. Each tribe, as in the time of the 
Judges, had its elder or chief. Beside these there was an 
inner circle or cabinet of advisors and secretaries, who had 
special national duties to perform. Among these may be 
mentioned two prophets, who were within the immediate 
call of the king. Their duties were somewhat mixed, per- 
taining both to civil and ecclesiastical affairs. 

3. Religious Institutions. — These were peculiar to the 
nation and were very elaborate. There were two High 
Priests taken from the rival houses of Aaron. The union 
of the religious and secular in the nation appears in the 
divisions of the Levites recorded in i Chron., chapters 
25-26. 

(i) The Porters. 26: 1-19. 

(2) The Treasurers. 2(i\ 20-28. 

(3) Officers and Judges. 26: 29-31. 

The twelve Captains, one for each month, are given in 



178 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

I Chron. 27:1-15. The Princes of the tribes, in i Chron. 
27:16-34. 

Danger Lines. — David conquered the Moabites, Edom- 
ites, Ammonites, Philistines, Syrians and other less im- 
portant tribes. He pushed the national boundaries to the 
widest limits they ever attained. No other period of He- 
brew history is marked by so great an advancement in 
power and civilization. The real merit of the Mosaic con- 
stitution appears more clearly than ever before. Though 
imperfectly administered, it made not only a happy, pros- 
perous people, but advanced them from an insignificant 
place among the nations, to a position of commanding in- 
fluence. Still there were danger lines in the nation. Tri- 
bal jealousies rose from time to time. The strong tribe 
of Ephraim felt hat Judah had more than her share of hon- 
or in that both king and capital were hers. Part of the 
territory began to be called Israel and the other part Ju- 
dah. It appears more plainly when Sheba the Benjamin- 
ite attempted to lead the ten tribes in a revolt against Ju- 
dah. His cry was, "We have no part in David, neither 
have we inheritance in the son of Jesse : every man to his 
tents, O Israel." 2 Sam. 20: i. 

Another danger line was the oriental disposition toward 
despotism and oppression on the part of those in power. 
This will appear when we study the disruption of the king- 
dom during the reign of Rehoboam. No form of polity 
has ever approached the Hebrew government in grandeur, 
purity, simplicity, and beneficence. Men were incompe- 
tent then to grasp the possibilities of it. Mankind has nev- 
er been able to subordinate the selfish and carnal in them- 
selves to the degree which the constitution of Israel re- 
quired. In this regard it is the goal towards which na- 
tional efifort should be directed. But passion and ambi- 
tion corrupted this divine institution. As soon as the 



IN THE BIBLE. 179 

kingdom was fairly established the regal authority was ex- 
ercised to gratify unholy desires. The seeds of civil stri|e 
were sown which came to fruitage in the efforts of David's 
sons to usurp his throne. Although unsuccessful these 
efforts would lessen any natural abhorrence for civil strife 
that existed in the nation and make it easier to lead dis- 
affected tribes into revolt. The germ of discord was plant- 
ed and the influence of it may be traced to its culmination 
when David's grandson was on the throne. Had men 
been more perfect the government would have stood for- 
ever and would have been a mighty agent in national eleva- 
tion even now.' As it was, no form of government could 
have done more, and the stability of the civilized nations 
to-day may be traced to the uplifting influences of the Mo- 
saic constitution. 

The Reign of Solomon. — We have two biblical sources of 
information in regard to Solomon and his reign — ■the Books 
of I Kings and 2 Chronicles. Kings is annalistic in char- 
acter and Chronicles religious. Kings was probably writ- 
ten near the time of the exile to arouse the people to faith 
and action, while Chronicles was written after the exile 
to encourage the Israelites. The one is written from a 
prophet's point of view and the other from a priest's. 
Kings deals with the providences of God to keep the na- 
tion pure, and his judgments to bring it back to the right 
when it had plunged into sin. Chronicles presents, in the 
main^ the goodness of God and his deliverance of his peo- 
ple. The Book of Kings has the mercy of God as a back- 
ground to judgment and Chronicles the judgment of God 
as a background to his mercy. After the revolt of the ten 
tribes Chronicles records most fully the events of the south- 
ern kingdom. 



180 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

OUTLINE OF PRINCIPAL EVENTS OF SOLOMON'S REIGN. 

I. He puts Adonijah to death, i Kings 2: 13-25. 
11. Expels Abiathar and puts Joab to death, i Kings 
2 : 26-34. 

III. Solomon makes an alliance with Egypt, i Kings 

IV. He asks God for wisdom, i Kings 3: 2-15. 
V. His daily provision, i Kings 4 : 22-28. 

VI. His agreement with Hiram in regard to material 
for the temple and builders, i Kings 5 : 1-12. 

VII. Solomon's levy from Israel, i Kings 5 : 13-18. 

VIII. Description of the temple, i King's 6: 1-38. 

IX. His palaces, i Kings 7: 1-12. 

X. The brass work for the temple, i Kings 7: 13-51. 

XI. Dedication of the temple, i Kings 8 : 1-66. 

XII. Solomon builds a navy, i Kings 9 : 26-28. 

XIII. Visit of the Queen of Sheba. i Kings 10: 1-13. 

XIV. Solomon's riches, i Kings 10: 14-29. 
XV. His wives, i Kings 11 : 1-3. 

XVI. Last years of Solomon's reign, i Kings 11 : 4-43. 
(i) His idolatry. 1 1 : 4-8. 

(2) The disruption of the kingdom foretold. 

11:9-13. 

(3) Hadad the Edomite returns from Egypt to 

revolt against Solomon. 11 : 14-22. 

(4) Syria revolts. 11:23-25. 

(5) Jeroboam promoted. 1 1 : 26-28. 

(6) The prophecy of Abijah. 11 : 29-39. 

(7) Jeroboam flees to Egypt. 11:40. 

(8) Solomon's death. 11: 41-43. 

Solomon as a Man. — Solomon had grown up in the royal 
court during the evils that had shadowed the closing years 
of David's life. Bath-sheba was his mother and Nathan 



IN THE BIBLE. 181 

the prophet his teacher. He came to the throne in a great 
national crisis, when unfilial rebellion had undermined the 
throne of David, and Adonijah, next in age to Absalom^ 
was seizing the reins of government. By the quick, de- 
cided action of David^ supported by Nathan, Zadok, and 
Beniah, the rebeUion was crushed without a blow and Sol- 
omon made king. The Bible gives but few personal inci- 
dents of Solomon. It has much to say of his age and court. 
He started well. His conscience seemed keen and his fi- 
delity to God great. His prayer at the dedication of the 
temple is evidence that he had no low, material conception 
of God. The waywardness and idolatry of his later years 
was not reached by a plunge. The Song of Solomon, Pro- 
verbs and Ecclesiastes are the three books of the Bible 
attributed to him. They fit the experiences of a lofty na- 
ture and well stored mind on which sinful indulgence has 
placed a withering hand. The Song of Solomon is a work 
of innocence and piety. It is a beautiful description of a 
tender and fervent love, perfectly pure in its aspiration and 
happy in the consciousness of a reciprocated affection. The 
Proverbs have the cold, intellectual character of the moral 
philosopher. They are funds of practical wisdom for real 
life. Tiiey never apologize for the force of temptation and 
do not blend error and truth. The Ecclesiastes bear the 
stamp of old age. Many of the expressions appear to 
be those of a cynic. The irony and sarcasm which lurk in 
the book are natural to one who has tested the vanities 
of self-indulgence and found them unsatisfactory and tor- 
menting. Even wisdom is but wormwood in the pres- 
ence of a wasted life. 

Solomon's Foreign Policy. — The reign of Solomon marks 
the culmination of the Hebrew monarchy. The territory 
was bounded by Lebanon on the north, the Euphrates on 
the east, Egypt on the south and the Mediteranean Sea 



182 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

on the west. It became a great world powei , and Solomon 
was in a position to treat with Egypt and other great na- 
tions on favorable terms. Statecraft may have recom- 
m.ended that he cement his relations to these nations by 
marrying into their respective royal families^ yet it was in 
direct violation of the law of God and out of keeping with 
the high destiny of the nation. It was his wives that led 
him into idolatry. To build palaces for them and to sup- 
port them in royal style embarrassed him financially so 
that he was obliged to levy heavy taxes on his subjects 
from Dan to Beer-sheba. His foreign policy favored com- 
merce with other nations While this would remove some 
prejudices from the Jewish mind, it also introduced into 
the nation a foreign luxury not at all in keeping with a 
pure spiritual worship of Jehovah. No doubt his prosperi- 
ty and grandeur would be highly flattering to the nation, 
but it was an element of weakness that became mighty in 
its influence. 

The Nation Under Solomon. — The enforced labor and 
heavy taxes necessary to support the splendor of the king 
were most destructive to^ national wealth. A nation's 
wealth is always based on private industry, on farms and 
manufactories and not on public buildings and gorgeous 
palaces. The influence of Solomon's course led the people 
from agricultural pursuits into^ commercial enterprises. It is 
a maxim of political economy that commerce is conducive 
to national prosperity. This can be true only when the 
commerce is really national. In Solomon's case it was al- 
most if not entirely regal. It was not the natural devel- 
opment of the resources of the nation, nor was it an impetus 
to private enterprise. It did not bring to the ordinary chan- 
nels of Hebrew activity any life-quickening influence. The 
close relations which Solomon instituted with other na- 
tions led the people into a fatal indifference to the wor- 



IN THE BIBLE. 183 

ship of Jehovah. The glory of the royal court would have 
led a stouter heart than Solomon into sin. Stanley says 
of him : "When the youthful monarch repaired to these 
gardens in his gorgeous chariot he was attended by nobles 
whose robes of purple floated in the wind and whose long 
black hair powdered with gold dust glistened in the sun, 
while he himself, clothed in white, blazing with jewels, 
scented with perfumes, wearing both crown and scepter, 
presented a scene of gladness and glory. When he travel- 
ed he was borne on a splendid litter of precious woods, in- 
laid with gold and hung with purple curtains, preceded by 
mounted guards, with princes for his companions and 
women for his idolaters, so that all Israel rejoiced in him." 

The Temple. — The Mosaic institutions were adapted to 
the nation during their wilderness experience ; they were 
found to be perfectly applicable to the period of the Jud- 
ges ; under David their beauty and power appear as never 
before. They manifest the characteristic trait of the true 
religion, viz. : that no phase of life is so low and no culture 
so high as to lessen the adaptation of the religion to it. 
The building of the temple would revive religion in the na- 
tion. When it was completed it was the greatest archi- 
tectural product of the age. Its dedication was fittingly 
solemn and impressive ; but it is safe to conclude that its 
influence toward spiritual worship was not so great as one 
would reasonably expect. It, had, however, great political 
significance, and whatever ministered to the welfare of the 
nation was of course a conservative element in their wor- 
ship. 

Solomon's reign was the beginning of the end. Influ- 
ences which covild never afterward be entirely eradicated 
took hold on the vitals of the nation. As a natural re- 
sult of his rapid plunge into idolatry the prophets of Je- 
hovah were either banished from the court or frozen out 



184 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

of it. Thus the restricting and directing influence of this in- 
stitution was lost to the nation and nulHfied in the life of 
the king. The subsequent history of Israel is a record of 
the struggle of the divine purpose with the weak and err- 
ing human will to bring down to all ages the finished 
scheme for God's reconciliation to man. 

THE DISRUPTION OF THE KINGDOM. 

Solomon had led the nation into almost hopeless oppo- 
sition to the plans of God, and, therefore, had bequeathed 
to his son a task of reformation for which his character and 
culture wholly incapacitated him. The narrowed political 
sphere of the nation was not the inevitable result of con- 
tact with foreign culture and worship. It became the in- 
evitable, only because of the weakness of the king and the 
proneness of the people to follow the infatuating practices 
of their heathen neighbors. The wide expansion of the 
Christian religion and the relation it bears to the Hebrew 
faith prove both to be capable of length and breadth as 
well as depth and height. The exclusiveness of the He- 
brew nation was a divine condition imposed on account of 
the moral weakness of the people. Moral strength had 
largely broken down the barriers of isolation in David's 
time. The degeneracy that followed again narrowed the 
horizon of the nation. 

Biblical History. — It is important at this point that we 
recall the prominent characteristics of biblical history. A 
unity of thought, sentiment and practical aim underlies it 
all. Its purpose is a revelation of the moral character of 
God in personal relation with mankind and with each indi- 
vidual. It is religious to the very core,, not a completed 
religion, but one of progressive development. The his- 
tory of the Bible has very little meaning apart from this 
fact, but no history is so full of meaning to the world 



IN THE BIBLE. 185 

when viewed in the light of its purpose. It is to be ex- 
pected, 

1. That divine judgments for sin will take a prominent 
place in the narrative. 

2. God will be related to these judgments in such a 
way that no thoughtful student can fail to note his agency 
and purpose. At the same time the forces of nature and 
society are generally made the divine executioners. 

3.. Symbolic worship and priestly mediation will be wo- 
ven into this history for they were divinely instituted 
means to the education of the people into the idea of atone- 
ment. 

4. Prophetic interpretation of the law and revelation of 
Code's will occupies a wide place in the later history of tEe 
nation. This was the chief agency in the development of 
the religion. 

5. A thread of personal experience runs through the 
whole narrative which brings the divine administration to 
bear upon individual aspiration and experience. 

OUTLINE. 

I. Solomon's relation to the disruption. 

(i) Impressment of labor. 2 Chron. 2: 17-18; 
I Kings 5 : 13-16. 

(2) Immense public works, i Kings 7: 1-12; 

9: 17-19. 

(3) Excessive taxes, i Kings 12 : 4. 

(4) His idolatry, i Kings 11: i-io. 

(5) Opposition of the prophets, i Kings 11: 

29:39; 11:21-24. 
II. Rehoboam's course. 

(i) Goes to Schechem to be crowned, i Kings 

12: 1-2; 2 Chron. 10: I. 
(2) The northern tribes call Jeroboam from 
Egypt. I Kings 12: 2-3; 2 Chron. 10: 2-3. 



186 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

(3) Their request of Rehoboam. i Kings 12 : 

4-5; 2 Chron. 10: 4-5. 

(4) Rehoboam's answer, i Kings 12: 6-15; 2 

Chron. 10: 6-15. 

(5) The revolt, i Kings 12: 16-17; 2 Chron. 

10: 18-19. 

(6) Rehoboam's effort toward reconciUation. I 

Kings 12: 18-19; 2 Chron. 10: 18-19. 

(7) Jeroboam made king of the northern 

tribes, i Kings 12 : 20. 

(8) The Prophet Shemaiah advises Rehoboam 

against war. i Kings 12: 21-24; 2 
Chron. 11 : 1-4. 

Remote Cause of the Disruption. — The Hebrew common- 
wealth was adapted in code and aspiration to a worldwide 
dominion. God's method in history is not magical. He 
generally allows the effect to follow the cause. But the 
effect of a cumulative cause in physics always lags behind 
the cause. It is the same in social and civil affairs. The 
faithful and loyal administration of their inspired consti- 
tution insured to the Israelites prosperity and power. Da- 
vid's reign of righteousness was the cumulative cause and 
Solomon's prosperity was the effect. This fact is crystal- 
ized into the oft-repeated expression : "For my servant 
David^s sake.'"" This cannot be construed to eliminate the 
divine agency from history. It simply brings us back to 
the great fundamental principle that God uses secondary 
agencies to bless or to punish mankind. The length of 
time required and the variety of agencies are proportion- 
ate to the magnitude of the effect. On the same principle 
it is reasonable to suppose that Solomon's reign would re- 
sult disastrously to their national hope. And so it did. 
The prospect for national greatness was never again so 
bright. It cannot be said that the only cause of the dis- 



IN THE BIBLE. 187 

ruption of the kingdom under Rehoboam was the foolish 
advice of the young men. These young men were a pro- 
duct of despotism. They were haughty and foolish, be- 
cause they had been brought up at a frivolous, corrupt, 
pleasure seeking court. The nation broke apart along the 
the line of cleavage disclosed by Sheba's rebellion in the 
time of David. The tribes, especially the strong tribe of 
Ephraim, were jealous of Judah. The danger line had 
always existed in the nation. Strong, wise and faithful 
administration of the law might eventually have obliterat- 
ed it ; but the whole trend of the government during Solo- 
mon's reign was toward disintegration. 

Such a revolt could not have occurred in any other ori- 
ental nation. The Hebrews lived on a political plane far 
above eastern despotism. Long years of exercise of po- 
litical rights rendered it impossible that a monarch or two 
should lead them into a willing surrender of these rights. 
A people who have once enjoyed an intelligent and wise 
government make very dangerous subjects to a haughty 
and tyrannical ruler. The rupture was complete. There 
was no disposition on the part of either to heal the breach. 

The Immediate Cause. — Rehoboam seems to have settled 
himself in his father's throne much as an eastern despot 
would have assumed it. His purpose was to ignore the 
Mosaic plan for the succession of kings which made the 
concurrence of the people necessary. After he had been 
on the throne a year he went to Shechem, a city of the 
tribe of Ephraim, to receive the endorsement of the tribes. 
The movement is significant. That he should, at a late 
date, leave his capital and go to a distant city of his king- 
dom to be crowned suggests at least that the proposition 
came from the northern tribes with an emphasis that 
brooked no denial. Further evidence may be gleaned 
from the preparation of the northern tribes for the event. 



188 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

Jeroboam, whom Solomon had banished to Egypt, had 
been recalled. The whole course of the ten tribes was out- 
lined. It was not a spasmodic outburst of passion. The 
representatives of the tribes approached Rehoboam in a 
firm but respectful manner and made a very reasonable re- 
quest. The demand was met with unreasonable despot- 
ism. The eyes of the poor weak king were not opened to 
the situation until his trusted servant had been put to 
death. The work of three generations was overthrown, 
but not in a moment. The revolution was short and quick 
but the energy of it was the product of many years. 

It Was from the Lord. — The revolt of the ten tribes was 
the legitimate outgrowth of their constitution. This con- 
stitution was unifying in its influence ; the abuse of it was 
disintegrating in tendency. God gave it to the nation, 
and it held, potentially, wideness of domain and great tem- 
poral prosperity, and the fullest freedom. It has often been 
remarked that the punishments of God are made to grow 
naturally out of the sin. It is in this sense that the dis- 
ruption is to be considered a punishment. Because God 
overruled it so that it became a conservative measure for 
good does not lessen the force of its penal influence. The 
crisis was a religious one. The prophets understood that 
regal splendor and luxury were not conducive to pure re- 
ligion. The expansion of commerce with other nations 
brought idolatry into repute among the Hebrews. The 
hope of the nation lay in the centralization of worship. 
The disruption was a step toward this end. There was 
but one Jerusalem and the worship of the northern king- 
dom magnified this point. While it was a movement in 
the direction of entire loss of local national life, yet it was 
an advance in religious development. 

Both Kingdoms Theocratic. — In the deeper sense of the 
term all governments are theocratic. A change of dynasty 



IN THE BIBLE. 189 

is not a change of government. The revolt of the len 
tribes was far more than this. The northern kingdom, 
like all nations, was a growth. Its environments, however, 
were such, and God's relation to it was such, that one 
would have expected an exact copy of the kingdom of Da 
vid. The human element introduced influences that made 
these nations unlike each other. And yet God's relation 
to them was the same. They had the same fundamental 
law; they had the same religion, and they had the same 
high hope. The northern kingdom had the advantage in 
territory and the southern, in the machinery of worship. 
Part of the tribe of Dan clung to Judah and part of the 
tribe of Benjamin. The tribe of Simeon had never suc- 
ceeded in developing strength and organization to protect 
itself, and it naturally clung to Judah. The rest of Pales- 
tine comprised the kingdom of Israel. That God did not 
cast off the tribes of Israel is fully confirmed in their his- 
tory. The northern kingdom was the scene of many very 
striking illustrations of God''s goodness and power. For 
many years it was the home of the prophets, and their 
burning words of admonition and their earnest efforts to 
bring the nation into line with the Mosaic constitution 
proves beyond a doubt that God still fostered them as his 
peculiar people. 

It is in point here to present a brief forecast of the his- 
tory of the two nations. Israel fell into sin much more 
quickly and deeply than Judah. The divine judgm.ent 
overtook them one hundred years sooner. Thirteen mon- 
archs reigned over Judah and twenty over Israel. The 
kings of Israel without exception walked in the ways of 
Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, and during the reign of three 
of them the worship of Baal was the established religion. 
Five kings of Judah were distinguished for piety and the 
remaining eight wandered far from God. Three of them 



190 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

were decidedly wicked, and Jehoram introduced the wor- 
ship of Baal. The reigns of the wicked kings in Judah were 
uniformly short and they were generally succeeded by 
righteous rulers. Four-fifths of the time Judah was gov- 
erned by kings who were loyal to the Mosaic law. It is 
easy, therefore, to predict which nation influenced the civi- 
lization of the world the more, and which nation was made 
the custodian of the Christian religion. 



IN THB BIBLE. 191 



X. 

ISRAEL— JEROBOAM I.— JEHORAM. 
JUDAH— REHOBOAM— ATHALIAH. 



In order to obtain a full and well-defined knowledge of 
both kingdoms we think it best to study them together. 
In this way the relation of each to the other and of both 
to other nations may be made more prominent. The two 
kingdoms had the same form of government. Each bore 
the same relation to God. In each the king derived his 
authority from God and the people. But their trend of 
development was different. In the northern kingdom it 
was toward a military despotism and in the southern to- 
ward a fixed hereditary line of kings. From Jeroboam to 
the destruction of Israel was about 254 years. Judah sur- 
vived about 100 years longer. The Jiistory of Israel may 
be divided into four epochs : 

I. The rise of idolatry, or from Jeroboam I. to Zim- 
ri. Three dynasties. 

II. Idolatry dominant, or from Omri to Jehoram. 
One dynasty. 

III. The influence of idolatry somewhat reduced, or 

from Jehu to Zachariah. One dynasty. 

IV. The period of decline, or from Shallum to Ho- 

shea; idolatry bearing its legitimate fruit. 
Four dynasties. 



192 



PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 



The history of Judah may also be divided into four 
epochs. 

I. Decline and revival of religious sentiment, or from 

Rehoboam to Jehoshaphat. 

II. Second decline and revival, or from Jehoram to 

Hezekiah. 

III. Third decline and revival, or from Manasseh to 

Josiah. 

IV. Fourth decline of true religious sentiment and 

captivity of the nation, or from Jehoahaz to 
Zedekiah. 



CO 


Rezini. 


Ben^hadad I. Ben^hadad 11. 


940 


918 915 891 889 


1 

u 


Jeroboam I 


Nadab. 


Baasha Elah. 


(^Zimri. ) 





Abijah. Iddo (?). 
I Ki. 11:29; I Ki. 13:1-32. 
14:1-16 



Jehu. 
I Ki. 16:1-4. 



Jehu. 
Shemaiah. Azariah. Hanani. 2 Chron. 20-37. 

2 Chron. 11:2-4; 12-5. 2 Chron. 15:1-7. 2 Chron. 16:7.9 2 Chron. 19:1-3. 



s- 



03 M 

S in 

o 

0« 



a) 


Rehoboam. Abijam. 


Asa. 




Jehoshaphat. 


940 923 920 






879 849 


to 

en 

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Raman° 


•nirari. 





IN THE BIBLE. 



193 





Ben-hadad 11 Hazael 




889 


877 853-852 842 


a; 
;-! 

CO 


Omri 


A 
<A 

Ahab § Jehoram 

1 < 






I 


V Y 

Elijah. Elisha. 
Ki. 17:1 — 19:21; 2 Ki. 4:1-6:23. 
2 Ki. 2:1-18. 


t— » 


Jehoshaphat Joram '§ Athaliah 

1 -^ 


849 844-842 836 


••fH 


Raman-nirari. 



ANALYSIS: ISRAEL DURING FIRST EPOCH. 

I. Jeroboam establishes his capital at Schechem. i 
Kings 12 : 25. 
11. Establishes a worship, i Kings 12 : 26-33. 

III. A prophet denounces his worship, i Kings 13 : 

1-32. 
(i) The message. 13 : 1-3. 

(2) Jeroboam's hand withered and restored. 

13 : 4-6. 

(3) His hospitality extended to the prophet. 

13:7-10. 

(4) The young prophet deceived. 13: 11-19. 

(5) He is punished for disobedience. 13 : 20-25. 

(6) The old prophet buries him. 13 : 26-32. 

IV. Jeroboam's impenitence, i Kings 13 : 33-34. 
V. The ruin of Jeroboam's house foretold, i Kings 

14: 1-18. 



194 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

(i) His son Abijah sick. 14: i. 

(2) His wife visits the prophet Ahijah. 14 : 2-4. 

(3) Ahijah's prophecy. 14: 5-16. 

(4) Abijah's death. 14: 17-18. 

VI. Death of Jeroboam, i Kings 14 : 19-20. 
VII. Nadab's reign, i Kings 15: 25-26. 
VIII. Baasha destroys the house of Jeroboam, i Kings 
15:27-31. 
IX. Baasha's reign, i Kings 15: 32-34. 
X. Jehu prophesies against Baasha. i Kings 16: 1-4. 
XL Death of Baasha. i Kings 16: 5-7. 
XII. Elah's reign and Zimri's conspiracy, i Kings 
16: 8-14. 
XIII. Zimri's reign and death, i Kings 16: 15-20. 

The Character of the Northern Kingdom. — ^The northern 
and southern kingdoms differed widely in character. 

The prophets looked upon the revolt of the ten tribes as 
a reform measure and, true to their office, they espoused 
the cause of Israel. The spirit of the revolt in so far as the 
people were concerned was not religious, but political. 
Under Solomon and Rehoboam the nation seemed to be 
plunging into hopeless apostacy from God. It possessed, 
however, inherent conservative principles which would 
eventually have instituted a reform. These were the great 
principles of their religious faith^ the foundation on which 
was built the superstructure of their national system. They 
had become inseparably related to the temple and its serv- 
ice. Their worship had not yet woven itself into the fiber 
of the Jewish character to such a degree that a dismem- 
bered portion of the nation would be true to its fundamen- 
tal constitution, either from a political or religious point 
of view. The genius of the kingdom of Israel was purely 
political. Religion was made to do service to ambition. 
It did not have the energy that would bring it into sharp 



IN THE BIBLE. 195 

conflict with national corruption and, therefore, the de- 
scent into idolatry was gradual and smooth, but irretrace- 
able. The spirit of the age exalted military prowess above 
all other national functions. The prophets discovered this 
very soon, and their attitude to the kingdom was a long 
protest. The nation was still God's chosen people and 
no doubt many of the common people remained true to 
their faith. The divine policy never destroys a nation un- 
til reform influences have failed.. 

Many prophets were sent to Israel, and their words of 
expostulation and warning form no inconsiderable portion 
of the prophetic writings of the Bible. They have thus 
been an advantage to the world ever since and no doubt 
were a great help to the true worshippers of the kingdom 
then. When the judgment of God swept the nation out 
of existence Israel was without excuse. She had had great 
possibilities. She had the indorsement of God and assur- 
ances of his protection so long as she remained true to him. 
It was her own fault that faith in Jehovah had not^ taken 
a deeper hold on the national conscience. God is true to 
to his own work and, therefore, respects man's free agen- 
cy. He never coerces the human will. In his omniscence he 
knows the end from the beginning, but he multiplies mer- 
cies and good influences to men and nations until the ex- 
acting sceptic fails to find opportunity to cavil at the di- 
vine government. 

Jeroboam's Religious Policy. — The revolt of the ten tribes 
did not break the religious unity of the nation. Jeroboam 
had reason to fear that this unity endangered his throne. 
Nothing is more potent to bind people together than a 
common religious sentiment, especially if their views are 
peculiar to them. To counteract the temple influence he 
set up two centers of worship, one at Bethel, in the ex- 
treme south of his kingdom, and one at Dan, in the ex- 



196 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

treme north. He consecrated priests and inaugurated the 
whole ritual of Jehovah worship. He also established a 
great reUgious festival, making it one month later than 
the Passover. His plan was successful. All the people 
resorted to Bethel and to Dan. But his whole project was 
impious. The evil resulting from it was augmented in 
every detail, and the successful execution of it settled idol- 
atry more crushingly on the nation. It does not palliate 
his sin in the least to say that Jeroboam did not intend that 
the golden calves should be worshipped, but that they were 
simply symbols of Jehovah to take the place of the ark 
and the temple in Judah. The whole system was a de- 
liberate and daring defiance of Jehovah. It was evidence 
of lack of faith in the God who had given him his kingdom^ 
and who had promised to establish his house if Jeroboam 
were loyal to him. The ultimate influence of Jeroboam's 
religious policy is incalculable. He led a great people into 
sin. Surely we have here a striking illustration of the per- 
sistence of human influence in the world. The history of 
the kings of Israel almost always closes with the sad re- 
frain, "The sin of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, which made 
Israel to sin." The descent into pure idolatry was not 
very rapid. The faith of Israel in the God of their fathers 
was not very strong. The pretence of worshipping God 
under the form of images gradually neutralized this faith 
until it was wholly lost. He gave a false direction and 
tone to their spiritual life by his studied imitation of God's 
appointed worship. 

When the young prophet denounced the altar on which 
Jeroboam was ofifering an unholy sacrifice he struck at the 
very root of the sin of the northern nation. His sad death 
and pathetic burial were an object lesson to the nation on 
obedience to the divine commands, and the monument 
reared over his grave by the old prophet was a standing 



IN THE BIBLE. 197 

rebuke of their national life. Three hundred years after- 
ward Josiah destroyed the altar. The absence of haste in 
God's methods is worthy of remark. It is when we bring 
into view centuries of time that this principle comes to the 
surface with overaweing power. To understand the sin 
of Jeroboam is to understand the moral of this part of his- 
tory. Human judgment said political division necessitat- 
ed a break in the reHgious unity of the nation, but divine 
wisdom had adapted that religion to man's nature, and, 
therefore, to every nation of any time. Jeroboam^s coun- 
terfeit failed and brought irretrievable loss to the nation. 
The church to-day will fail to conserve the interests of our 
nation whenever she loses the energy to explode schemes 
of fraud and systems of iniquity and vice, even though to 
do so shake her from center to circumference. The re- 
ligion of Israel was not aggressive against evil ; therefore, 
it gradually lost influence until itself was lost. 

Jeroboam's Political Policy. — 'The political environments 
of Israel favored the development of a military spirit. Sy- 
ria on the north became a prominent factor in the politics 
of Asia about the time of the disruption of the Hebrew na- 
tion. David had subdued Syria^ but she had successfully 
revolted from Solomon. She was a natural and implac- 
able enemy of both Israel and Judah. Phoenicia was gen- 
erally friendly to Israel. Judah on the south was in a 
state of chronic hostility to Israel. Jeroboam very soon 
learned that his course had lost to him the divine interven- 
tion and that his protection must come largely as it did to 
other nations through his military organization. This idea, 
moreover, was not foreign to his nature and education. He 
had seen the influence of a strong army in Egypt and in his 
own country in David's time. The importance of the ar- 
my was unduly mangnified. Its officers were the political 
intriguers of the day. It became the only line of promo- 



198 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

tion in the kingdom. Thus the nation drifted away rap- 
idly from the Mosaic constitution, which gave the people 
a voice in the selection of their officers. It was easy for 
the idol of the army to usurp the throne. The king's se- 
curity rested in his military activity and military success. 
He was not safe if the army was idle. It is a little difficult 
at this day^ when the machinery of death is so perfected 
that it has robbed war of much of its glory^ to appreciate 
the hold a successful officer had on his army. It is diffi- 
cult to appreciate the influence of an army on a nation, 
when heroes were deified and the poetic impulse expend- 
ed on praises of those who fell in battle. 

Jeroboam estabHshed two capitals, one east and one 
west of the Jordan — one at Penuel» in the tribe of Gad, and 
one at Shechem, in the tribe of Ephraim. He improved 
and beautified these very much. Afterward he built a 
royal residence at Tizrah. Whether these projects were in 
imitation of the course of Solomon that he might thereby 
secure a greater influence with his people or whether they 
were to gratify a taste for luxuriousness in himself we do 
not know. They were instrumental in later years in foster- 
ing sensuous indulgence in the king and thereby incapaci- 
tating him to retain the allegiance of the army. The po- 
litical career of Jeroboam brought the nation back to the 
days of Saul, largely deprived the people of their civil 
rights and gave it a fatal trend toward anarchy and dissolu- 
tion. 

ANALYSIS: JUDAH DURING FIRST EPOCH. 

I. The prophet prevents civil war. 2 Chron. 11 : 1-4. 
II. Rehoboam fortifies his kingdom. 2 Chron. 11: 
5-12. 

III. The Levites and others come to Judah. 2 Chron. 

11: 13-17. 

IV. Rehoboam's policy. 2 Chron. 11: 18-23. 



IN THE BIBLE. 199 

V. Invasion of Shishak. 2 Chron. 12: 1-12. 
VI. Death of Rehoboam. 2 Chron. 12: 13-16. 
VII. Abijah's reign. 2 Chron. 13 : 1-22. 

(i) War with Jeroboam. 13: 1-15. 

(2) Jeroboam defeated. 13 : 16-20. 

(3) Abijah's death. 13: 21-22; 14: i. 

VIII. Asa's reign. 2 Chron. 14: 2 — 16: 14. 

(i) He strengthens his kingdom. 14: 2-8. 

(2) Invasion of Ethiopians. 14: 9. 

(3) Asa conquers them. 14: 10-15. 

(4) The prophecy of Azariah, the son of Oded. 

15:1-7- 

(5) Judah makes a covenant with God. 15: 

8-15. 

(6) Asa's reforms. 15:16-19, 

(7) Baasha invades Judah and fortifies Ra- 

mah. 16: I. 

(8) Asa hires the Syrians against Baasha. 16: 

2-6, 

(9) Hanani reproves Asa. 16 : 7-9. 

(10) Asa imprisons the prophet. 16 : 10. 

(11) Asa's death. 16:11-14. 

IX. Jehoshaphat's reign. 2 Chron. 17: i — 21: I. 
(i) His goodness and prosperity. 17: 1-19. 

(2) Makes peace with Israel. 18: i. 

(3) The two kingdoms unite against Ramoth- 

gilead. 18: 2-3. 

(4) The false prophets. 18 : 4-5. 

(5) Micaiah's vision. 18 : 6-2y. 

(6) The combined armies defeated. 18: 28-34. 

(7) Jehu reproves Jehoshaphat. 19: 1-3. 

(8) Instructs the judges of his kingdom. 19: 

4-11. 

(9) Invasion of the Moabitec. 20: 1-4. 



r 



200 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

(10) Jehoshaphat's prayer. 20: 5-13. 

(11) The revelation of Jahaziel. 20: 14-17. 

(12) The Moabites conquered. 20: 18, 30. 

(13) Jehoshaphat reproved by Eliezer for wick- 

ed league with Israel. 20: 31-37. 

(14) His death. 21 : i. 

Influences Effecting the Development of the Two Kingdoms. 
— The kingdoms of Israel and Judah were essentially dif- 
ferent. Chief among the influences operating to make 
them unlike was their attitude to the religion of the Mo- 
saic institutions. But before the disruption, the religion 
was the same in all parts of the nation. The inquiry is 
therefore relevant, why did the same religion allow different 
trends of development in national polity? 

I. The distance of the northern tribes from the center 
of their religious administration lessened the effect of their 
worship. True enough, the worship of Jehovah 
has always been a spiritual worship and he is omni- 
present ; but the Hebrew mind had not risen to a concep- 
tion of the personal presence of God away from the dedi- 
cated symbolism of that presence. It is not unreasonable 
to believe that parts of the nation remote from the cap- 
ital eventually come to feel that they were practically be- 
yond the immediate care of God, except at the great reli- 
gious gatherings in Jerusalem. They would become so 
cold and indifferent that their religion would cease to be 
either a stimulus to them or a restraint. The natural im- 
pulses toward material wealth would^ therefore, lead them 
inevitably into purely worldly effort. This is true not be- 
cause the religion of Jehovah is inadequate to repress and 
direct human effort, but because it is a religion of moral 
suasion and not of coercion. One of the crowning dis- 
tinctions of the Hebrew-Christian faith is that it respects 
man^s free moral agency, and influences him by motives 



IN THE BIBLE. 201 

addressed to the will through the understanding. Only 
thus can the human life develop its God-likeness and attain 
to its highest possibilities of greatness and glory. At the 
same time it permits man to reject its councils and to fol- 
low the devices of his own heart. 

2. The topography of Palestine gave Judah a religious 
advantage over Israel. During the greater part of the 
history of the two kingdoms Egypt was one pole of the po- 
litical world and Syria, Assyria or Babylon the other. The 
commerce of these countries was through Palestine or di- 
rectly through the northern kingdom. Israel was thus 
brought into the closer contact with foreign culture^ wor- 
ship and enterprise. Solomon had made Jerusalem a great 
center of traffic, but it was almost entirely personal ; hence 
when he died, Jewish commerce ceased in a great measure. 
Moreover these countries sometimes led their armies 
through Palestine in campaigns against each other. The 
Israelites would not be slow to imbibe the martial spirit. 
Jerusalem lay a little off the great highway of nations. In 
this way the physical features of the land gave Judah an 
isolation favorable to meditation, while they gave to Israel 
incentive to active and aggressive self-assertion. In view 
cf these things it is not strange that Israel should develop 
into a military kingdom, and that religion in Judah should 
have the strength to hold her to a closer observance of her 
Mosaic constitution. Early French and early English his- 
tory illustrates these two trends of national development. 
France, like Israel, allowed the army to become supreme 
and gradually, as it became stronger, to filch the civil 
rights of the people from them. The king became a mili- 
tary despot. In England^ the army never becam.e supreme. 
The barons refused to surrender their rights. By keep- 
ing their hands on the pocketbook of the nation they were 
able to dictate the king's military enterprises. England's 



202 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

prosperous career and her free institutions vindicate the 
wisdom of her policy. The checkered history of France 
and the turbulent career of Israel are closely parallel. A 
military administration is not conducive to personal liberty 
nor to the development of the natural resources of any 
country. It v^as not in keeping v^ith the constitution of 
the Hebrew commonwealth, and it bore, in the northern 
kingdom, the legitimate fruit of anarchy and oppression. 

The Southern Kingdom During the First Epoch. — The dis- 
ruption of the kingdom seemed to sober Rehoboam and 
he ruled in the fear of the Lord for three years. But 
whenever he had affected a reorganization of the kingdom 
and fortified his towns, he instituted high places for the 
worship of idols. The divine punishment came speedily 
through natural social causation. The prophet Shemaiah 
sealed the lesson home to Rehoboam. Shishak ransacked 
Jerusalem, carried away the gold of the temple, and left the 
nation so poor that they substituted shields of brass for 
the splendid gold ones Solomon had made. Philistia and 
Edom also rebelled and Rehoboam's fancied security was 
broken. It was this false sense of security that led him 
into indulgence and idolatry. The human and divine ap- 
pear here as a double thread of motive and purpose. Shis- 
hak was purely selfish^ and yet unknown to himself, un- 
known to his army, and unknown to Rehoboam, until the 
prophet revealed it, was the purpose of God to break down 
idol worship in the nation. 

Abijah, Rehoboam"* son, was more warlike than his fa- 
ther. He was the offensive party in a war with Jeroboam. 
He hired Syria to attack Israel on the north but with very 
indifferent success, for Damascus was the natural enemy 
of both Israel and Judah. Abijah gained a decided vic- 
tory over Jeroboam which enabled him to secure and for- 
tify several border towns, but which did not encourage him 



IN THE BIBLE. 203 

to push the war further into Jeroboam's territory. He 
was the son of Maacha, Rehoboam's favorite wife, a strong 
character with a pronounced tendency to idolatry. She was 
the queen mother, a personage of great influence in the 
kingdom. Her influence was altogether against the true 
worship of Jehovah. 

Asa's reign was long and prosperous. During the first 
ten years of it he was occupied largely with reforms. The 
enemies around him seemed only to strengthen his faith in 
God. When the Ethiopians invaded Judah with an army 
of about a million Asa''s faith triumphed in a prayer that 
may well be made a model for prayers in times of distress. 
In the fifteenth year of his reign he called a great assem- 
blage of the people and renewed their covenant with the 
Lord. The tenor of the renewed covenant indicates that 
they rose superior to the symbolism and recognized that 
the service God wants is a heart service. Some years of 
peace and quiet ensued, during which Asa's unexercised 
faith seemed to weaken; for when Baasha invaded Judah 
he was weakest where he once had been strongest. His 
heart failed him, and he bought the help of Ben-hadad. 
However, wise this may have seemed from a secular 
statesman's point of view, it was against the spirit of the 
Hebrew institutions. It had a tendency to weaken the na- 
tional faith, and, therefore, called forth the protest of the 
prophet. Asa, his heart unhumbled and uneasy under the 
rebuke, cast the prophet into prison. This is the first in- 
stance of an efifort in Judah to punish a prophet for a fear- 
less presentation of God's will. It was not repeated soon. 

Asa did much to further the real interests of Judah. As 
A natural sequence Jehoshaphat began his reign under fa- 
vorable circumstances. There was still much to be done. 
He completed the fortifications of his kingdom and gave it 
a power and a glory which it had not enjoyed since Solo- 



204 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

mon's time. In order to counteract the influences that 
had deeply degraded the nation and to make his reforms 
permanent he wisely instituted a systematic education of 
the people in the Mosaic law. He destroyed the tents on 
the hills dedicated to the worship of Ashera and reformed 
the courts of justice. Besides the inferior courts in the dif- 
ferent cities, he established a supreme tribunal in Jerusa- 
lem with original and appellate jurisdiction. His instruc- 
tions to the judges whom he had appointed has the ring of 
the Mosaic era. His alliances with Ahab and Ahaziah were 
not in harmony with his wise home policy. To seal the 
treaty Jehoram,, the son of Jehoshaphat, married Athaliah^ 
the daughter of Ahab. It is highly probable that it was in 
connection with the ceremonies of this treaty that Jehosh- 
aphat visited Samaria. Both kings were defeated by the 
Syrians and Ahab killed. Jehoshaphat was unwilling to 
undertake the war without the advice of a prophet of the 
Lord. Ahab had already resolved on the expedition, 
therefore he was anxious that his prophets should predict 
success. His prophets had a lying spirit. God's relation 
to these lying prophets was simply one of toleration. God 
never employs men to sin, but he sometimes leaves men 
free to commit sin. He does, however^ place his shaping 
hand on them and turn their activity to the best moral ac- 
count. Ahab wished to be guided by false prophets, and 
the justice of God decreed that he should be guided by 
them to his ruin. Jehoshaphat desired to know the truth, 
but did not have the courage of his convictions in the pres- 
ence of Ahab. We get a view of the better side of his nature 
in his policy at home. Under the influence of Asa and Je- 
hoshaphat Judah righted herself to a great extent, but dur- 
ing succeeding reigns a fierce contest was waged between 
kings and prophets of the southern kingdom. 



IN THE BIBLE. 205 

ANALYSIS. OMRI— JEHORAM. 

I. Civil war, 4 years, i Kings 16: 21-22. 
11. Omri makes Samaria his capital, i Kings 16: 
23-24. 

III. His reign and death, i Kings 16: 25-28. 

IV. Ahab's idolatry, i Kings 16: 29-33. 

V. Jericho rebuilt. Josh. 6: 26; i Kings 16: 34. 
VI. Elijah's career, i Kings 17: 1-19:21; 2 Kings 2: 
1-18. 
(i) Prophsies no rain. 17: i. 

(2) Fed by ravens. 17:2-7. 

(3) Goes to Zarephath. 17: 8-16. 

(4) Raises the widow's son. 17 : 17-24. 

(5) Obadiah conceals the prophet from Ahab. 

18 : 1-6. 

(6) Elijah comes to Ahab. 18: 7-16. 

(7) The trial on Mount Carmel. 18: 17-46. 

(8) Elijah flees from Jezebel. 19 : 1-3. 

(9) He comes to a cave on Mount Horeb. 19 : 

4-9. 

(10) He meets God there and receives a com- 

mission from him. 19: 10-18. 

(11) Anoints EHsha. 19: 19-21. 

(12) Elijah is translated. 2 Kings 2: 1-18. 
VII. Ben-hadad invades Israel, i Kings 20: 1-12. 

VIII. Ben-hadad defeated, i Kings 20: 13-21. 
IX. The prophet warns Ahab of a second invasion. 
I Kings 20: 22. 
X. The invasion and defeat, i Kings 20 : 23-30. 
XL Ahab's fooHsh covenant, i Kings 20: 31-34. 
XIL A prophet reproves Ahab. i Kings 20: 35-43- 
XIII. Jezebel takes the vineyard from Naboth. i 
Kings 21 : 1-16. 



206 



PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 



XIV. Elijah's prophecy and its effect, i Kin^s 21 : 
17-29. 
XV. Ahab makes a league with Jehosaphat. i Kings 
'Z'Z'. 1-40. 
(i) War with Syria. 22: i. 

(2) Jehoshaphat joins Ahab. 22 : 2-4. 

(3) They seek the advice of prophets. 22 : 5-6. 

(4) Jehoshaphat asks for a prophet of the 

Lord. 22 : 7. 

(5) They bring Micaiah, who prophesies de- 

feat. 22 : 8-28. 

(6) The armies defeated and Ahab slain. 22 : 

29-40. 
XVII. Ahaziah attempts to take Elijah. 2 Kings i : 1-16. 
XVI. Character of Ahaziah's reign, i Kings 22: 51-53. 
XVIII. Ahaziah's death. 2 Kings i : 17-18. 
XIX. Jehoram succeeds him. 2 Kings 3 : 1-3. 

XX. Moab rebels. 2 Kings 3 : 4-5. 
XXI. Jehoshaphat joins Jehoram and they conquer 

Moab. 2 Kings 3 : 6-27. 
XXII. Ben-hadad 11. besieges Samaria. 2 Kings 6: 24 
— 7 : 20. - 

(i) The famine extreme. 6 : 24-30. 

(2) The king sends messengers to kill Elisha. 

6:31-33- 

(3) Elisha's prophecy and the fulfillment of it. 

7: 1-20. 

XXIII. Jehu anointed king. 2 Kings 9: i-io. 

XXIV. He usurps the throne. 2 Kings 9: 11-26. 
XXV. Jezebel slain. 2 Kings 9 : 30-37. 

Compare i Kings 18: 4; i Kings 21 : 15-23 ; i Kings 22 : 
38 ; 2 Kings 9 : 25-26 ; 2 Kings 9 : 32-37. 
Elisha's career. 2 Kings 4 : i — 6 : 23. 



IN THE BIBLE. 207 

The Reign of Omri. — -Omri was the sixth king of Israel 
and the founder of the fourth dynasty. Jeroboam reigned 
twenty-two years and his son nearly two. Baasha reigned 
twenty-four years and Elah, his son, about one. Zimri 
destroyed the whole house of Baasha and reigned seven 
days, when he was driven to suicide by Omri, the captain 
of the army. But this did not secure the kingdom to Om- 
ri. The people of Israel, roused to a sense of their loss 
of influence in the nation, resisted the domination of the 
army by supporting Tibni, a popular candidate for the 
throne. After four years of civil war Tibni was defeated 
and slain and Omri was undisputed king. This was the 
last eflfort on the part of the people to maintain the liber- 
ties secured to them by the Mosaic constitution. 

Omri has the unenviable reputation of being worse than 
any of the kings that preceded him. The calf-worship of 
Jeroboam had never been idolatry pure and simple. It 
was an effort to worship Jehovah through symbols not ap- 
pointed by God. The ''Statutes of Omri/' to which refer- 
ence is made in Micah 6 : i6, refers, in all 'probability, to 
decrees of the king which deified these symbols. He 
built Samaria and made it his capital. This city was about 
six miles north of Shechem, and hence was more central 
ly located. The strength of its natural fortifications ap- 
pears in the later history of the nation. He made a treaty 
with the Phoenicians or old Canaanites, which was of 
highest importance from a mercantile point of view. Ahab, 
his son, married Jezebel, the daughter of Eth-Baal, the 
king of Phoenicia. He invaded Moab and reduced it to 
subjection. His wars with Syria were less successful. 
Reference is made to this in i Kings 20: 23, where Ben- 
hadad was treating with Ahab. "And Ben-hadad said unto 
him : The cities which my father took from thy father I 
will restore." Ramoth-Gilead, a strong east-Jordanic po- 



208 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

sition, was probably one of them. Omri is the first king 
of Israel whose name appears in Assyrian records. As- 
syria now became a factor in the politics of Western Asia, 
and both Syria and Israel felt her influence deeply. 

The Moahite Stone. — Since the Moabite stone sheds some light 
on this part of Jewish history it will be in place here to give 
some account of it. It was an official monumental stone to com- 
memorate the deliverance of Moab from an oppressive subjection 
to the kings of Israel. It is about three feet nine inches in 
length, two feet four inches in breadth, one foot two inches in 
thickness and is of black basaltic rock. It was discovered by 
Dr. Klein while traveling in what was the land of Moab. It was 
purchased by the Prussian government for a sum equivalent to 
about $390. But before negotiations were completed a member 
of the French consulate at Jerusalem sent men to take squeezes 
of the stone, and offered in the neighborhood of $1,900 for it. 
This aroused the greedy and superstitious Arabs. Nablus, the 
governor of the province, demanded the stone for himself, but 
the Arabs, lest they should lose it, broke it in pieces by heating 
it and pouring cold water over it; they then distributed the 
pieces as sacred relics to the different families of the tribe. By 
untiring effort the French government secured most of the frag- 
ments which have been put together with the aid of the squeezes 
taken before the stone was broken. It is now in the museum 
at Paris. The language is fundamentally Hebrew, no word oc- 
curring of which the root is not found in the Old Testament. It 
says in part: "I, Mesha, am the son of Chemosh-gad, king of 
Moab, the Dibonite. My father reigned over Moab thirty years, 
and I reigned after my father. And I erected this stone to Chem- 
osh at Karcha [a stone of] salvation, for he saved me from all 
the despoilers and let me see my desire upon all my enemies, 
and Omri, king of Israel, who oppressed Moab many days, for 
Chemosh was angry with his land. His son succeeded him, and 
he also said, I will oppress Moab." The whole inscription reads 
like a chapter from the Bible and is a testimony to the truth- 
fullness of biblical history which no criticism can effect. The 
name Jehovah occurs, spelled as in the Hebrew scriptures. 
Chemosh was Moab's national deity, and the reference to the 
idol here is in perfect harmony with the Bible reference to him 
as "the Abomination of Moab." 

Ahab's Reign. — The history of the reign of Ahab is par- 
ticularly full. Ahab was a rich idolatrous king. He was 
quite successful in his foreign wars. Chief interest, how- 
ever, attaches to his reign because of his course toward 
the worship of Jehovah and the worship of Baal. He came 



IN THE BIBLE. 209 

into dreadful collision with the prophets. It is Elijah 
rather than Ahab that gives prominence to this part of the 
history of Israel. 

His Marriage. — His marriage with Jezebel was alto- 
gether a political move. Menander in his Tyrian history 
proves that Eth-Baal ascended the throne just fifty years 
after Hiram, with whom David and Solomon dealt so 
largely. Ahab began to reign over Israel fifteen or twenty 
years later. Ahab could not have been ignorant of the di- 
vine law that forbade marriage with the Canaanites. His 
course was in bold defiance of the law of God and was fol- 
lowed by natural and legitimate punishment. Jezebel was 
reckless, fanatical and cruel. She had a resolute will and 
seems to have felt herself chosen by Baal to establish his 
worship in Israel. Menander^ the same historian quoted 
above, states that Jezebel is the point of contact of sacred 
and classic history. She was the aunt of Vergil's Belus 
and great aunt of Pygmalion and of Dido, the famous 
foundress of Carthage. 

Ahab and Religion. — Ahab always acknowledged Je- 
hovah, but never worshipped him. Omri had introduced 
idol worship, but Ahab made it the national religion. To 
attribute it to Jezebel does not relieve Ahab of responsibi- 
lity. He built a temple for Baal in Samaria, and together 
they maintained a great number of prophets of Baal. They 
instituted the first religious persecution, and carried it to 
the extreme that not only prophets but worshippers of Je- 
hovah were in danger of death. The people were "halt- 
ing between two opinions."" They thought that the wor- 
ship of Jehovah and the worship of Baal were compatible. 
The worship of Ashtaroth, the goddess, was combined 
with that of Baal in a most debasing sensuality. It could 
not be otherwise than that such a course should fix on the 



210 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

northern kingdom habits of thought which no subsequent 
reformation could entirely change. 

Elijah and Ahab. — Moses stood before Pharoah, Samuel 
before Saul^ Nathan before David, Iddo before Jeroboam 
and now Elijah before Ahab to denounce wickedness and 
defection from the worship of Jehovah. Elijah's career is 
unique. He was the prophet of fiery judgment but his 
mighty work seemed powerless to stem the great tide of 
idolatrous fanaticism that was sweeping over the land. The 
career of Elijah is unusually full of the miraculous. The 
times called for display of power to accompany the pro- 
phet's denunciation of evil. The rapid declension of true 
worship had been made possible by the sin of Jeroboam. 
It induced a religious indifference not natural to man. 
Therefore the people were prepared for demonstrative de- 
votion. The energy of this devotion could have been 
turned easily into the channel of true worship had Ahab 
been so disposed at the time of the trial on Carmel. A 
religious revival would have moved the whole nation so 
deeply that it would have come back to the purity and 
power of David's time. Ahab had an opportunity which 
few kings of Israel had ; but he failed to improve it and Is- 
rael plunged deeper into sin. Elijah was no doubt fitted 
naturally to be the prophet of God's judgment. Still his 
work had an effect on his own nature and ideas. It di- 
rected his attention to the one side of God's character to 
the neglect of other attributes. In viewing the justice he 
lost sight of the mercy. The natural effect of this would 
be despair of better things and impatience at the delay of 
God's vengeance. Elijah's Mount Horeb experience was 
to correct his views of God. He there learned that God 
was in the quieter blessings of daily life and the silent in- 
fluences of the Spirit in the conscience as truly and as pow- 



IN THE BIBLE. 211 

erfully as in the great judgments that swept over nations 
with appalling destructiveness. 

Ahab's political career. — Ahab was more than ordinarily 
successful in his foreign wars. It appears from Assyrian 
tablets that Ahab of Israel was at one time allied with Sy- 
ria in a great battle fought with Assyria. But this alliance 
could not have been long ; for we find Ben-hadad and thir- 
ty-two other kings in league against Ahab. The Israelites 
were so alarmed that they were willing to make peace on 
almost any conditions; but the one proposed by Ben- 
hadad was so hard that Ahab and the nation were roused 
to a vigorous self-defense, and Ben-hadad was defeated. 
Ahab's conduct on this occasion was both foolish and guil- 
ty. It was evidence of unfitness to have charge of the des- 
tiny of any nation. The wise course would have been to 
have shorn Ben-hadad of his power to hurt Israel, his con- 
duct was guilty in that it was against the clear indication 
of God's will. It was a blind and wilful disregard of the 
theocratic element in the nation. The prophet had not 
left Ahab in ignorance of the divine will. Ahab's whole 
course is not surprising when we note that we have not 
the least trace of evidence that Ahab recognized Code's 
hand in these victories with a single throb of gratitude. The 
divine inspiration was so plain in it that anyone not infat- 
uated with heathenism and sin would have made some ac- 
knowledgement of the source of the help. 

The condition imposed on Ben-hadad by Ahab was the 
surrender of Ramoth-Gilead and other cities and the pri- 
vilege of Damascus, i Kings 20 : 34. As might have been 
expected, when Ben-hadad was safe in his own country he 
refused to make good his promise to surrender Ramoth- 
Gilead, which was really an important outpost of Israel. 
Ahab made a league with Jehoshaphat of Judah. The 
covenant was confirmed by the marriage of Jehoram and 



212 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

Athaliah. The Syrians were victorious and Ahab fell. The 
chariot in which he bled his life away was washed in the 
vineyard of Naboth, and the dogs licked the blood of the 
king in literal fulfillment of the prophecy of Elijah. 

Reign of Ahaziah. — ^Ahab's reign was full of successes, 
Ahaziah's, of reverses. Moab revolted whenever she heard 
of Ahab's death. Not only was she successful in securing 
her independence and cutting off Israelis greatest source 
of revenue, but she extended her borders by capturing part 
of the east Jordanic territory. The joint naval expedition 
of Ahaziah and Jehoshaphat for gold was a complete fail- 
ure. Biblical interest in Ahaziah centers around his rela- 
tion to Elijah the prophet. This fearless servant of the 
Lord comes forth from his obscurity to pronounce judg- 
ment on Ahaziah. The explanation of the destruction of 
the companies of fifty is to be found in the spirit of the 
master and servant. Ahaziah knew very well of Elijah's 
relation to God. He knew very well of the miraculous 
manifestations of divine power through the prophet dur- 
ing his father's reign ; and yet in bold defiance he sent not 
a peaceable messenger to invite Elijah to the court, but 
a military company to apprehend him violently. It was 
another trial between Jehovah and Baal. Jehovah must 
be vindicated. VThou man of God the king hath said come 
down. If I be a man of God let fire come down and con- 
sume thee and thy fifty.'"' The second fifty bore a still more 
imperative message to Elijah, and they met a like fate. 
Ahaziah sent a third company, but the captain of this band 
had a different temper. He came meekly and humbly, 
praying Elijah to come to the king, and he came — came to 
the court and pronounced sentence on the haughty king. 
He refused to come before, not because he feared the king, 



IN THE BIBLE. 213 

but because the command of the king was a challenge to 
Jehovah. He came at last, not as a prisoner, but as the 
servant of an omnipotent God. 

Jehoram's Reign. — Jehoram, sometimes written Joram, 
was a brother of Ahaziah and son of Ahab and Jezebel. He 
instituted a partial reform in Israel. He brought the na- 
tion back as nearly as possible to the Jeroboam idea. Je- 
zebel however still lived and Baal was still worshipped. 
Moab's success under Ahaziah had made her a dangerous 
neighbor both to Israel and Judah. Israel, Judah, and la- 
ter Edom, who may have been somewhat jealous of Moab, 
united their forces and marching through the territory of 
Edom attempted to strike Moab an unexpected blow. The 
Moabites were defeated, and the king reduced to such de- 
spair that he openly offered his son as a burnt offering. 
It is a little difficult to understand why this sight broke up 
the campaign. It did^ however, and the armies went to 
their respectve countries. Edom seems to have been the 
mover in the disaffection that terminated the enterprise. It 
was probably out of sympathy for Moab. Such a ter- 
mination could scarcely have been possible in David's 
time. The display of such cruelty and superstition 
would then have put new energy and determination 
into the army of Israel. Idolatry must have wormeaten 
the Hebrew heart until natural feelings and natural super- 
stitious fears broke down all courageous zeal for the pure 
worship of Israel. 

Elisha and his Work. — ^An account of the times of 
Ahaziah and Jehoram would be incomplete without refer- 
ence to Elisha and his work. A double portion of the 
spirit of Elijah fell on Elisha. But he was a very dif- 
ferent man and his mission was different. Elijah^s life was 
a specific vindication of the law and Elisha's of the Gospel 



214 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

Spirit. His life may be centered around seven miracles. 
I. Miracle of judgment at Bethel in which his office was 
vindicated and Jehovah honored. 2. His miraculous 
supply of the widow's need by whicli her supply of oil was 
increased. 3. The raising of the Shunamite's son from 
the dead. 4. Death by poison averted. 5. Cure of 
Naaman's leprosy. 6. Judgment of Gehazi. 7. His 
deliverance of Jehoram from the Syrian invasion. 
Elijah was born and inspired to meet a crisis. His energy 
was expended in the shock of battle. Elisha was more of a 
steady influence whose work was to inspire to devotion to 
God. Without Elijah the work of Elisha would have 
counted for little. Each had his place in God's plan and 
when the work of each was completed God took them away 
from the world. 

ANALYSIS— JEHORAM— ATHALIAH. 

I. Jehoram kills his brother. 2 Chron. 21 : 1-4. 
n. Marries the daughter of Ahab. 2 Chron. 21 : 5-7. 
ni. Revolt of Edom and Libnah. 2 Chron. 21: 8-1 1. 
IV. Letter from Elijah. 2 Chron. 21 : 12-15. 
V. The PhiUstines^ Arabians and Ethiopians oppress 
Judah. 2 Chron. 21 : 16-17. 
VI. Jehoram's death. 2 Chron. 21 : 18-22. 
VII. Ahaziah made king. 2 Chron. 22: i. 
VIII. AthaUah's influence. 2 Chron. 22 : 2-4. 

IX. He visits Jehoram of Israel and is slain by Jehu. 
2 Chron. 22 : 5-9. 
X. Athaliah usurps the throne. 2 Chron. 22: 10-12. 
XL Jehoiada, the priest, makes Joash king. 2 Chron. 
23: i-ii. 
XII. Athaliah's death. 2 Chron. 23: 12-15. 
Reign of Jehoram of Judah. — The marriage of Ahab 
to Jezebel and the establishment of the Phoenician wor- 
ship may be said to have been the turning point in the his- 



IN THE BIBLE. 215 

of the northern kingdom. The marriage of Jehoram to 
the daughter of Jezebel led to the establishment of the 
same worship in Judah. This may be called a turning 
point in the history of the southern kingdom. Reforms 
were made in both kingdoms more or less sweeping in 
scope. They were more permanent and complete in Ju- 
dah than in Israel, and yet idol worship was not eradicated 
except by the seventy years of bondage. By speaking of 
these reigns as turning points we do not mean that they 
started the influences which inevitably fixed a course of de- 
cline on either nation. They were simply times when ac- 
cumulated evil influences were strong enough to attempt 
an open destruction of the true worship. This sprung the 
crisis and brought the opposing forces into open con- 
flict. As the history of these nations develops before us 
and the proneness of man to idolatry and sin appears, the 
difficulty of bringing such a race back to fellowship with 
God without violating free agency is more fully appreciat- 
ed. The wisdom of God's plan becomes more apparent. 
His infinite mercy is seen in that he did not destroy the 
whole human race or leave it without the restraining in- 
fluence of his presence. There was no backward step. 
Man might fail in the commission intrusted to him, but 
God never. Everything was moving toward the culmina- 
tion of the dispensation in **the fullness of time." 

This epoch in the history of the kingdom of Judah is 
interesting chiefly on account of the internal struggle be- 
tween idolatry and the true worship. Canaanite idolatry 
had captured the throne. Jehoram and Athaliah brought 
dark idolatries to the nation. Mount Olivet was covered 
with heathen sanctuaries and pillars to Baal. Statues to 
Ashtaroth and images of Moloch appeared at every turn 
in the walks around Jerusalem. It was the Holy City and 
the unholy city striving for mastery. 



216 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

Ahaziah and Athaliah. — Ahaziah, elsewhere called Jehoa- 
haz and Azariah, became king of Judah after the death of 
Jehoram. Athaliah was the queen mother and really the 
dominant spirit in the nation. Ahazia was visiting his ue- 
cle Jehoram of Israel when the swift vengeance of Jehu 
broke over the northern kingdom. Ahaziah fell a victim to 
it. The conspiracy of circumstances which compassed his 
death lay in the divine plan of judgment. It was from 
God. His death placed Athaliah in a critical position. 
She had a position of power so long as the king, her son, 
lived, but on his death his wife became queen rnother. It 
cut her off from the sympathy and protection of the north- 
ern kingdom, for the whole house of Ahab fell before the 
sword of Jehu; it also separated her from Phoenicia. But 
she was equal to the occasion. She secured the death of 
her son's family, with the exception of one small child, 
which was concealed from her by Jehosheba, the half-sister 
of Ahaziah and wife of Jehoiada the priest. Six years later 
she was overthrown by a conspiracy, in which Jehoiada 
was the leading spirit. With her the last of the house of 
Omri perished. 



IN THE BIBLE. 217 



XI. 



ISRAEL— HOUSE OF JEHU. 
JUDAH— JOASH— UZZIAH. 






Ben=hadad III 



842 814 997 781 740 



Jehu Jehoahaz Joash Jeroboam 11 a^ 

I II u 



Jonah 
Amos 
Hosea 



CI} 



Joash Amaziah Uzziah 



336 796 782 



u 

tti 
to 



Ratnan=nirari III Shalmanezer III 



The Period of the Prophets. — We have followed the his- 
tory of the Hebrew nation from the time of its organiza- 
tion at Mount Sinai to the establishment of it in the pro- 
mised land under the administration of the Judges, to the 
establishment of the kings in Saul, to the disruption of the 
kingdom under Rehoboam, and of the two nations to the 
reigns of Jehu of Israel and Joash of Judah. For conven- 
ience in study we make a division of the ^history at this 
point. About this time there was a wide expansion of the 
prophetic office, and we will call what remains of the his- 
tory of the twin nations The Period of the Prophets. It 



218 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

will be remembered that the prophetic office was instituted 
at the rise of the kingdom for the purpose of restraining 
the king and the nation from evil courses and for the pro- 
motion of the pure worship of Jehovah. Samuel, Nathan, 
Elijah and others have passed before us, and their lives 
and work testify to the wisdom of the institution. Their 
efforts, however* did not hold the nation true to the pur- 
pose of God in it. The pure religion of Jehovah lost 
ground during these years, if we are to measure it by the 
standard of national fidelity to their divinely instituted 
worship. But God's purpose of mercy to the whole race 
could not be thwarted by human defection. It must, 
eventually, break its Hebrew shell and come forth a uni- 
versal religion. If the Hebrew nation should fail to come 
up to this measure, either through an ignorant and bigoted 
conservatism or through a corruption of worship, it must 
go down and give place to a wider economy. The per- 
spective of the prophet changes somewhat. During the 
prophetic period the promises of God to the nation take on 
a v/ider significance and a deeper meaning. Hope in the 
Mosaic dispensation waned,, and the prophetic visions of a 
glorious future became more and more vivid as the years 
went by. Yet there was no decrease in the prophet's in- 
terest in the present. His zeal to correct abuses and his 
fervor in urging the people to obedience were as great as 
ever; because, if the nation was to continue to be the hon- 
ored custodian of the truth she must increase her fidelity 
and widen her horizon. From the time of Jeroboam and 
Uzziah the history of the nation is found largely in the 
writings of the prophets. 

Prophecy — Principles of Interpretation. — It will be well at 
the beginning of the study of the prophets to notice brief- 
ly some principles of interpretation. 

I. The prophet was the preacher of his times. In that 



IN THE BIBLE. 219 

his effort was generally in the interest of national reform 
his office was not exactly the same as that of the modern 
preacher. He was rather the God-inspired statesman. 
Most of his prophecies might have been reached by an in- 
ductive study of Hebrew history. Yet it is true that no 
nation that has ever existed has been able to deduce from 
the history of other nations those principles which insure 
stability and success. Some indeed in many nations have 
apprehended the fundamental principles of social life so 
clearly as to see the trend of national life and to predict 
the result. These few have not always been able to bring 
the nation to a sense of its danger. Very often when a na- 
tion is weakest it feels itself strongest. But there is a side 
to biblical prophecy that makes it radically different from 
the wise predictions of profound statesmen. The thought- 
ful student of history can detect the causes which led to 
the glory of the nations of the past and which led to their 
downfall. He can trace the operation of the causes that 
have placed the nations of the world to-day in the posi- 
tions they now occupy and with some degree of certain- 
ty forecast their future. But that is all. The problem is 
entirely too complex to be solved by human powers. The 
optimistic views of the future of our own nation are close- 
ly paralleled by the darkest forebodings. Wise patriot- 
ism while it does not overlook the one will not shut its 
eyes to the other. The Hebrew prophet from a states- 
man's standing point might have predicted the inevitable 
downfall of the nation^ but nothing more. The spirit of 
inspiration threw light on the promises given to the na- 
tion and drew aside the future's veil and enabled him to 
5ee that destruction was not death, that out of banishment 
and captivity would come forth a people still the peculiar 
treasure of God. 

2. Prophecy, therefore, has a significance for all times. 



220 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

Much of it can find its complete fulfillment only in the 
reign of the Messiah. The prophet himself may not have 
understood fully the deeper meaning of his words ; he may 
have interpreted the wide expansion promised the nation 
as an event in the near future, whereas it was located in a 
remote dispensation. But the Bible student to-day can- 
not fail to see the relation of these prophecies to the king- 
dom of Christ. 

3. Prophecy, for the most part, consists of sermons 
which were preached for the immediate benefit of those ad- 
dressed. The future significance was secondary in the 
prophet's mind. Evidently* at times at least, this was 
chief in the Jewish mind, and may have blinded them to 
the real danger of the nation. They may have felt that the 
future of the nation was assured. But it shall be our pur- 
pose in this study to direct attention principally to the ap- 
plication of the prophecy to the time of its delivery. We rec- 
ognize that the spiritual aspect of prophecy has a deeper 
meaning to the Christian world to-day; but the political 
sense is necessary to a conception of the spiritual signifi- 
cance. 

4. The prophet was called of God and moved by the 
Spirit to do a special work. 

ANALYSIS— JEHU— JEHO ASH. 

I. Hazael usurps the throne of Syria. 2 Kings 8: 

7-15. 
11. Jehu anointed. 2 Kings 9: i-io. 

III. Jehu usurps the throne. 2 Kings 9: 11 — 10: 18. 
(i) Jehoram killed. 9: 11-26. 

(2) Ahaziah of Judah killed. 9. 27-29. 

(3) Jezebel killed. 9 : 30-37. 

(4) Ahab's sons killed. 10: i-ii. 



IN THE BIBLE. 221 

(5) Relations of Ahaziah killed. 10: 12-14; 2 

Chron. 21 : 17 ; 22 : i ; 22 : 8. 

(6) The worshippers of Baal killed. 10: 15-28. 
IV. Character of Jehu's reign. 2 Kings 10: 29-31. 

V. Hazael afflicts Israel. 2 Kings 10 : 32-33. 
VI. Jehu's death. 2 Kings 10: 34-36. 
VII. Reign of Jehoahaz. 2 Kings 13 : 1-9. 
(i) Succeeds Jehu. 13:1. 

(2) Character of his reign. 13:2. 

(3) The Syrians afflict Israel. 13 : 3-7. 

(4) His death. 13 : 8-9. 

VIII. Reign of Jehoash. 2 Kings 13: 14 — 14: 16. 
(i) Death of EHsha. 13 : 14-20. 

(2) Death of Hazael. 13 : 22-24. 

(3) Defeats Ben-hadad, son of Hazael. 13 : 

25-26. 

(4) Defeats Judah. 14 : 8-14. 

(5) His death. 14: 15-16. 

Hazael Usurps the Throne of Syria, — One specification of 
Elijah''s Mount Horeb commission was to anoint Hazael 
to be king of Syria. This part of the commission was ful- 
filled by Elisha. Ben-hadad^ who had afflicted Israel so 
sorely, was sick but not with a fatal malady. Having heard 
that Elisha, the prophet of Israel, had come to Damas- 
cus, he sent Hazael, an officer of high rank to inquire of 
Elisha what the issue of his sickness would be. The nar- 
rative here is pathetic in its simplicity and sadness. "And 
Elisha said unto him (Hazael), go say unto him (Ben- 
hadad), thou mayest certainly recover; howbeit the Lord 
has showed me that he shall surely die." This latter 
clause was not part of the message to the king, but ad- 
dressed to Hazael. "And the man of God wept. And 
Hazael said, Why weepeth, my lord? And he answered, 



222 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

because I know the evil that thou wilt do unto the children 
ot Israel." 

We are somewhat surprised that the prophet of Jeho- 
vah should be sent on such a mission to Syria. In it we 
get a glimpse of the influence of the Hebrew nation on 
the superstituous idolators of the world. Their knowl- 
edge of the God of the Hebrews must Mve shaken their 
convictions of their own religion, and thus advanced the 
world a step farther in education in the true faith. But 
it was also an object lesson then and has been ever since 
to all nations. It teaches that God uses nations as well 
as men to work out his purpose of justice and mercy, al- 
though the nation or man be God-defying and God-dishon- 
oring. The ambitious Hazael was to scourge Israel as the 
agent of divine justice, but his motive and spirit were en- 
tirely out of harmony with the character of God and hence 
unworthy in the extreme. 

Jehu's Reign. — It is altogether possible to conduct 
business or the affairs of state on principles which accord 
perfectly with true reHgion. The true code of morals is 
sometimes debased from motives of policy. Jeroboam is 
an illustration of this. So is Jehu. Examples of it are 
not infrequent to-day. There may be great zeal in reform, 
provided that reform touches personal interest somewhere. 
The man may be honest in his zeal and the project may be 
right and good, but the sharp scheme, the pandering to evil 
and the doubtful methods contaminate the enterprise. Af- 
ter the conflict, when the reformer's life is estimated at 
its true worthy the selfishness and unworthiness appear. 
Thus a genuine reform may be no credit to the reformer. 
The reign of Jehu is as pronounced as his character. He 
was well fitted naturally to destroy evil and prepare the 
way for good. Evidently he was a stranger to the richer, 
spiritual blessings of the economy of grace, and therefore 



IN THE BIBLE. 223 

failed to realize that the nation needed anything more than 
the service of an unrelenting soldier. He was not a real 
reformer at all. He arrested evil by destroying the evil 
doers. A reform that does not take hold on the popular 
conscience, and while it corrects does not educate, can be 
only temporary. He destroyed Baal, but left the calves. 
"He took no heed to walk in the law of Jehovah, the God 
of Israel, with all his heart." His whole career is evidence 
that Jehu's interests,, not God's, were the impelling mo- 
tive in his life. Now this does not imply that his zeal for 
Jehovah worship was altogether assumed. Men often al- 
low themselves to enter enthusiastically into an enterprise 
which, they flatter themselves, is purely philanthropic, but 
which the last analysis of motive determines to be pure- 
ly selfish. The Bible commends the work of Jehu, but 
has not one word of praise for his spirit. His work was 
bloody. The slaughter of the house of Ahab and the wor- 
shippers of Baal sometimes shock those who take a super- 
ficial view of it. It was just, and in view of the nation's 
purpose, the only wise course. Idolatry was treason in 
the Jewish nation^ and by the laws of nations, a capital 
offiense. The hands of the Baal worshippers were red 
with the blood of the worshippers of Jehovah. They were so 
joined to their idols that no influence could bring the na- 
tion to a sense of its relation to God so long as they lived. 
As elsewhere God used human agency to protect his re- 
ligion and execute his laws. 

The Syrians afflicted the nation severely during the 
reign of Jehu, but these reverses did not bring him to a 
sense of his need of God. About this time Assyria, whose 
army had been successful in the south and east, began to 
encroach upon Syria and to take note of Israel. There is 
in the British Museum an obelisk of black basalt, called 
the Black Obelisk. It was set up at Nimrod to commem- 



224 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

orate the victories of Shalmanezer, king of Assyria. It 
is five feet nine inches high. Each side has five compart- 
ments of bas-reHefs, representing the tribute and offerings 
made to Shalmanezer. It is covered with a cuneiform in- 
scription, recording the annals of the king's reign. On 
it is represented the tribute of Jehu, king of Israel. Ha- 
zael was defeated in a great battle with Shalmanezer and 
lost four cities. Assyria, however^ did not make Syria 
tributary at this time. 

Reigns of Jehoahaz — Jehoash. — Very brief mention is 
made of these kings. Politically their reigns are noted 
for the further encroachments of Syria and a general dis- 
couragement in Israel. Elisha died during the reign of 
Jehoash. Hazael died, but his son, Ben-hadad III., con- 
tinued the oppression of Israel. Jehoash defeated him 
three times, according to the prophecy of the dying Elisha. 
S. Burnham has well said : "In the Old Testament we 
may study both God and man by an inductive method. We 
may learn what God is^ and what he will do for and with 
men, by seeing what he was and what he did in the days of 
the patriarchs and prophets. We may discover what fate 
will attend the various forms of human conduct, by see- 
ing to what they led in that olden time. We may know 
what are the possibilities of human endeavor, and what 
men, by the grace of God, may do and be, by learning what 
the ancient men of God of whom the world was not worthy, 
became and achieved. We may discover what are the 
elements and the fashioning powers of a noble and Godly 
life by studying the development and the character of the 
grand and saintly souls of the Old Testament age." 

ANALYSIS— JOASH AND AMAZIAH OP JUDAH. 

I. Jehoiada makes a covenant with the people. 2 
Chron. 23 : 16. 



IN THE BIBLE. 225 

11. Reforms of Jehoiada. 2 Chron. 23: 17-21. 

III. Reign of Joash. 2 Chron. 24 : 1-27. 

(i) General character. 24: 1-3. 

(2) Repairs the temple. 24:4-14. 

(3) Death of Jehoiada. 24:15-16. 

(4) Sin of Joash. 24: 17-19. / 

(5) Reproof of Zechariah. son of Jehoiada, 

and his death. 24: 20-22. 

(6) Syrians invade Judah. 24 : 23-24. 

(7) Joash murdered. 24 : 25-27. 

IV. Amaziah^s reign. 2 Chron. 25 : 1-28. 

(i) General character. 25 : 1-2. 

(2) Executes the murderers of his father. 25 : 

3-4. 

(3) Collects an army to invade Edom. 25 : 5. 

(4) Hires an army from Israel. 25 : 6. 

(5) On the advice of the prophet he dismisses 

them. 25 : 7-10. 

(6) He defeats the Edomites. 25: 11-12. 

(7) The army of Israel destroys cities of Ju- 

dah. 25 : 13. 

(8) Amaziah's idolatry. 25 : 14-16. 

(9) Amaziah challenges Joash. 25 : 17-19. 

(10) Amaziah defeated. 25 : 20-24. 

(11) His death. 25:25-28. 

The Reforms of Jehoiada. — During the reign of Jehoram 
the worship of Baal was introduced into the southern king- 
dom. Athaliah, during the six years of her reign, ad- 
vanced it to the dignity it assumed in Israel during the 
days of Jezebel. But the priests were never persecuted 
in Judah as the prophets were in Israel. Through the 
boldness and thoughtfulness of Jehoiada, an heir to the 
throne escaped the cruelty of Athaliah, and was crowned 
king. Either from his position or by common consent Je- 



226 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

hoiada administered the government during the minority 
of Joash. After the coronation of the young king he call- 
ed the people together in a solemn and very important 
service. The convocation of the people at Mount Sinai, 
when the nation received the fundamental law direct from 
God himself and entered into covenant agreement with 
him, and the renewal of that covenant in the fifteenth year 
of the reign of Asa are the examples and the authority Je- 
hoiada had for the step. Jehoiada was a wise statesman. 
He apprehended the relation of the people to God and 
God''s propriety in them. He was far-seeing enough to 
know that the nation could be prosperous and happy just 
in so far as she kept close to her original compact with 
God. But this is not all. He understood human nature 
well enough to know that popular enthusiasm could be 
turned to good advantage if taken wisely and at the right 
time. He also knew that it was unsafe to trust the spon- 
taneous impulse of the people without such pre-arrange- 
ment as would guide the public energy in a proper direc- 
tion. The sequel proves how wisely he planned. A com- 
plete reformation was made in the national practices and 
a zeal for God and his law infused that swept Baal wor- 
ship from the kingdom. "And all the people of the land 
rejoiced and the city was quiet." 

The Reign of Joash. — So long as the patriotic and good 
Jehoiada lived Joash ruled wisely. His plastic nature ap- 
peared when he came under the influence of other advis- 
ors. Although the reform of Jehoiada was complete yet 
as the days passed a disaffection would aris^ among those 
who had been devoted to Baal, and especially if his worship 
had been of pecuniary advantage to them. The nation need- 
ed a strong steady hand on the helm to quell this spirit. 
The reign of Jehoiada was not long enough to supplant 
thoroughly a devoted Baal worship with the true worship 



IN THE BIBLE. 227 

of Jehovah. Joash fell into the current of sentiment which 
after the death of Jehoiada would grow particularly strong. 
As a result Baal worship was reinstated, but it was not 
without warning and remonstrance. The Spirit of the Lord 
<rame upon Zachariah, the son of Jehoiada, who was pro- 
Dably high priest at the time and he rebuked the king. 
By the order of the ungrateful king he was stoned to death. 
He said: "The Lord look upon it and require it." Very 
soon Hazael invaded Judah. His force was small but Jo- 
ash was compelled to surrender the accumulation of the 
royal treasury. The last days of Joash were spent in mise- 
ry and sickness and he died at the hands of his attendants. 
There was so little popular sentiment in favor of the king 
that his son dared not attempt the punishment of his fa- 
ther's murderers until he was well established on his 
throne. The conspiracies in Judah which murdered a 
king did not, as in Israel, place the assassin on the throne. 
The line of kings was fixed and there were few years when 
a descendant of David was not reigning in Judah. The 
mistake of Joash was not that he lacked constitutional 
firmness. True he did not have the resolute will that 
makes use of adverse circumstances to further its purpose. 
His course was determined almost entirely by the acci- 
dents of his court. There always have been many such 
persons. The religion of the Bible is the only influence 
known to the world which will give courage and persis- 
tency of purpose to these people in the face of opposition 
arid possible reproach; and Joash did not have any deep 
religious experience. Punctillious ceremonialism is not 
religion. A vague sentiment, the product of solemn mo- 
ments in the old home church* will not insure a righteous 
career in the presence of the temptations of public or pri- 
vate life. Joash must have felt a keen sense of disappoint- 
ment when he realized during his last days that the flattery 



228 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

to which he had been a victim and which had influenced 
him to the evil, left nothing to satisfy when the flatterers 
had fled. A deeper experience in the religion he profess- 
ed would not have given him naturally an indomitable will 
but it would have brought the strength of God into his life. 
Many a man of great courage and strong will falls before 
the honied words of insincere courtiers. He would not 
quail before an enemy and yet he becomes an easy prey to 
the flatterer. The hope of such is to be found in the deep- 
er experience of the true religion of Jehovah. 

Reign of Amaziah of Judah. — ^Interest in Amaziah's reign 
clusters around his expedition against Edom. Since its 
revolt from Jehoram, Edom had been a source of great 
trouble to Judah. Bands from Edom would attack the 
southern part of the territory and carry off prisoners, Am- 
os I : II gives us some conception of the heartlessness of 
the Edomites. Amaziah made a complete conquest of 
them, but allowed himself to be captured by their idola- 
trous worship. History has few parallels to this consum- 
mate foolishness. Edom was conquered by the king of 
God's chosen people and under the advice of the prophet, 
and yet the idols of Edom were brought back with the ar- 
my and set up in Jerusalem. As might have been expect- 
ed the prophet's counsel was not wanted from this time 
on. When the prophet perceived the king's unhumbled 
spirit, he said : '*I know that God hath determined to de- 
stroy thee, because thou hast done this, and hast not heark- 
ened to my counsel." This plainly implies that the prophet 
knew that the God whom he represented was a merciful 
God and would destroy only when agencies failed to re- 
claim. 

Amaziah did not know himself. Joash of Israel was a 
strong, wise king. Filled with pride because he had con- 
quered Edom, Amaziah challenged the northern kingdom 



IN THE BIBLE. 229 

to war. Had he made an exact estimate of himself and the 
resources of his nation, he would not have plunged into 
an unnecessary war simply for glory. His mission was to 
rule Judah in the fear of the Lord, but, like many since 
that time he was not content to work within the limits of 
God's purpose in him. 

The Book of Joel. — Several considerations induce us to 
locate the Book of Joel about the time of Jehoiada of Ju- 
dah, and the first of written prophecy. Some hold that 
Amos 1 : 2» is a quotation from Joel 3 : 16. If it is, Joel 
must have prophesied before Amos or before Uzziah of 
Judah. This of itself is not much on which to base a con- 
clusion in regard to the time of Joel. But the fact that 
neither Assyria nor Babylonia is mentioned would imply 
that Joel lived before these nations attracted much atten- 
tion in Palestine. The absence of any mention of the king 
in the call to repentance, when so many others are in- 
cluded would corroborate the belief that the book was 
written in the time of Jehoiada. However, this may be, 
there is no prophecy in the Bible that can be interpreted 
more easily and surely apart from any historic light. 

The Book Itself. — The imagery of Joel indicates that the 
occasion of the prophecy was a real invasion of locusts. 
This asumption is strengthened by evidence from other 
sources in regard to the extent of locust invasion in that 
country and the damage done by them. No army ever 
left a country more desolate than these swarms of locusts. 
No nation could oppose any resistance to them. It was 
not uncommon that they should come in seasons of ex- 
treme drought. 

The theme of the book is Repentance followed by God's 
favor. It naturally falls into two parts at chapter 2 : 18. 
The first part is a vivid description of the calamity and a 
call to repentance. The Revised Version, in changing the 



230 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

verbs of 2: 4-1 1 from the future tense to the present, makes 
the description more vivid, and suggests that the prophe- 
cy and the call were issued at the very time the people 
were suffering under this scourge. The opening of the 
second part and the nature of the promises it contains re- 
veals that some time elapsed between the seventeenth and 
eighteenth verses of the second chapter. The people 
obeyed the call of Joel and he was then commissioned to 
speak, words of peace and hope to the nation. "Then 
was the Lord jealous for his land, and had pity on his peo- 
ple. And the Lord answered and said,"" etc. 

ANALYSIS. 

L Call to Repentance, i: i — 2: 17. 

(i) The prophets' authority. 1:1. 

(2) Call to the fathers. 1:2, 3. 

(3) Devastation by locusts, i : 4-12. 

(4) A call to priests and ministers, i : 13-15. 

(5) The drought described, i : 16-20. 

(6) More vivid description of the ravages of 

locusts. 2: I-II. 

(7) A general call to repentance. 2: 12-17. 
IL Blessings and promises. 2: 18 — 3: 21. 

(i) Removal of the locusts. 2 : 18-20. 

(2) Promise of abundant harvests. 2 : 21-27. 

(3) A forecast. 

(a) Of pentecost. 2 : 28-29. (See Acts 2 : 
16-18. 

(b) Day of the Lord. 2: 30-31. (See Acts 
2: 19-21). 

(c) Israel's future and the destruction of 
her enemies. 2:32 — 3:21. 

The Twofold Significance of Prophecy. — It will be well at 
this point to study briefly the twofold significnce of pro- 
phecy. Attention has been directed in a previous chap- 



IN THE BIBLE. 231 

ter to the fact that our present study of the Bible is con- 
cerned with the appHcation of the providences of God to 
the nation at the time it experienced these providences. 
Our object is the same in reference to prophecy. But pro- 
vidence and prophecy have both a future significance as 
well. 

Providence has future reference in that it teaches the 
world what God is and how he treats the sinner and the 
righteous man, and prophecy, in that it is designed to in- 
spire an intelligent hope and faith in the final outcome of 
God's purpose. These revelations of the future focus in 
the Messiah, and we may expect them to be clustered 
about epoch-making events in his mediatorial history. 
Therefore, the doings of nations will find a place in this 
prophecy only as they bear upon this theme. Since the 
revelations of the future given through the prophets are 
to inspire an intelligent hope and faith, the transition peri- 
ods in the history of redemption will have greatest promi- 
nence. The Savior's death marked a transition and many 
of the prophecies of the Old Testament find their fulfill- 
ment in it. The coming of Christ in his humility was the 
greatest event the world has yet seen^ and the greatest tri- 
umph over sin and death. But he is to come again in his 
glory. "This same Jesus, which is taken up from you 
into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen 
him go into heaven."" Acts i : ii. We may^ therefore, ex- 
pect much prophecy in both the Old and New Testaments 
to relate to the Lord's second advent. Joel foretells these 
two crises in the Lord's relation to the world in chapter 
2 : 28-32. The glance is brief, indeed, but clear. 

ANALYSIS— JEROBOAM II.— ZACHARIAH. 

I. Reign of Jeroboam IL 2 Kings 14 : 23-29. 
(i) Character of his reign. 14 : 23-24. 



232 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

(2) His successes. 14 : 25-27. 

(3) His death. 14 : 28-29. 

II. Zachariah's. reign, 2 Kings 15: 8-9. 

UZZIAH OF JUDAH. 

I. Made king. 2 Chron. 26: i. 
II. His reign. 2 Chron. 26 : 2-23. 

(i) General character. 26: 2-5. 

(2) His wars. 26 : 6-8. 

(3) His buildings. 26 : 9-10. 

(4) His army. 26:11-15. 

(5) Uzziah's sin and punishment. 26: 16-21. 

(6) His death. 26: 22-23. 

Reign of Jeroboam II. — The history of the reign of Jero- 
boam 11. as given in the Bible is very brief. Only results 
are given and they are almost wholly his military successes. 
These were very great. He extended the boundaries of 
the kingdom to the limits of Solomon's time. These suc- 
cesses cannot be attributed to his military skill alone, al- 
though he was a great general. The Syrian energies were 
expended in protecting themselves from Assyrian con- 
quest^ and thus exposed their southern and western fron- 
tiers to the attacks of Jeroboam. Assyria, from this time 
to her fall was an important factor in the politics of Pales- 
tine. The prophetic writings of this period enable us to 
construct a tolerably full history of the domestic condi- 
tions of Israel and Judah. These conditions in the north- 
ern kingdom during the reign of Jeroboam II. were : 

1. The nation became rich and luxurious. 

2. Rural life was exchanged for city life, and Israel be- 
came a nation of traders. 

3. A condition of none very rich and none very poor 
was followed by great wealth and great poverty side by 
side. 



IN THE BIBLE. 233 

4. The increase of wealth had induced an unprecedent- 
ed penuriousness. 

5. The next natural step was a perversion of justice to 
further selfish ends and fraudulent oppression of the poor. 

6. Domestic chastity declined and introduced a whole 
train of accompanying evils. 

It is not strange, therefore, that the prophets should 
proclaim the doom of the nation to be imminent. The 
growing influence of Assyria indicated the source from 
which the judgment might be expected. Jeroboam's Hfe 
went out in the sad consciousness that the sceptre would 
very soon be taken from the house of Jehu. Zachariah, 
the son of Jeroboam II., reigned six months, when treason 
again placed a usurper on the throne. The glory of the 
northern kingdom began to fade with the fall of the fifth 
dynasty. The descent from this time was speedy and the 
end near. 

Reign of Uzziah of Judah. — "Then all the people of Ju- 
dah took Uzziah (or Azariah) who was sixteen years old, 
and made him king in the room of his father Amaziah." 
2 Chron. 26: i. This is significant statement. It is ev- 
idence of a desire on the part of the people to adhere to 
the Mosaic constitution, which may not have been follow- 
ed very closely in the elevation of all their kings. Uz- 
ziah's reign was long and prosperous. He was great in 
war and in peace. He reduced the Philistines and Arabi- 
ans and fortified his kingdom against Israel, Syria and As- 
syria. His justice and generosity must have been re- 
nowned for when Israel fell Ammon and Moab both 
sought his protection. But his prosperity was greater 
than he could bear. He encroached on the prerogative 
of the priest and resented any interference in the exercise 
of his self-imposed function. His last years are a pathet- 
ic commentary on human frailty. A leper^ condemned to 



234 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

Spend his days in a separate house, he died in seclusion and 
Jotham who had been regent for some years ascended the 
throne. Uzziah and Jotham both adhered quite closely to 
the theocratic ordinances and yet there was a gradual but 
general decadence in morals. Pride and self-will were 
about to plunge Judah into disastrous alliances with other 
nations. This forms a background for the prophecies of 
Isaiah who beagn his work "in the year that king Uzziah 
died." 

THE BOOK OF JONAH. 

The Book of Jonah can scarcely be called a prophecy; 
it is simply a narrative. Jonah lived in the time of Jero- 
boam 11. and was to him what Ahijah had been to Jero- 
boam I. "He restored the coast of Israel from the enter- 
ing of Hamoth unto the sea of the plain, according to the 
word of the Lord God of Israel, which he spake by the 
hand of his servant Jonah, the son of Amittai, the prophet, 
which was of Gath-hepher. 2 Kings 14: 25. Principal 
interest in his life centers in his mission to Nineveh, the 
the capital of Assyria. Hebrew tradition says Jonah was 
the widow's son whom Elijah raised from the dead and who 
had attended Elijah during his Mount Carmel experience, 
and that he afterward, acting under the instruction of Eli- 
sha, anointed Jehu to be king of Israel. The tradition, how- 
ever, has no historical basis. 

Jonah was the first missionary in the modern sense of 
the term. It will be interesting to study in this connec- 
tion God's relation to the heathen world and the relation of 
the Hebrew nation to the nations about them. There is 
danger, when studying the biblical history of the Jewish 
nation,that the student may unconsciously fall into the er- 
ror that the policy of exclusiveness imposed upon the He- 
brews cut out of God's care all other nations and decided 



IN THE BIBLE. 235 

a course of judgment on them without an offer of mercy. 
Nothing could be farther from the truth. It will be re- 
membered that the exclusiveness of the nation was God- 
imposed only with the intent that the religion of Jehovah 
might be kept pure from idolatrous contamination. God's 
attitude to the world did not change. The barriers of iso- 
lation kept out no nation or no man who was willing to 
subscribe unreservedly to their Mosaic constitution. The 
wonderful displays of God's power and his care over the 
nation were often brought very close to the conscience of 
the heathen nations to win them if possible to allegiance 
to the same God. It is not strange then that a prophet 
of the Lord should be sent to the capital of a great nation 
to warn them of the impending wrath of God. 

But the Hebrew nation had a peculiar relation to the 
world. It was to be a witness for God. It had a special mis- 
sion to the world. The policy of the nation had blinded the 
eyes of the people to their true relation to other nations. 
They had failed to rise to a conception of God as universal 
in influence and care and had come to look upon him as a 
national deity only. Just in so far as this was true were they 
failing to fulfill their mission. Jonah failed to recognize 
the nation's true relation to the heathen^ and hence was un- 
willing to undertake the mission of Nineveh. He was in- 
tensely patriotic, and felt that Nineveh was a menace to 
Israel. An interesting fact in regard to a prophetic concep- 
tion of God's judgment comes out here. Jonah was com- 
missioned only to pronounce the doom of Nineveh. He 
was not instructed to say one word of mercy, and yet he 
knew that if his prophecy should humble the nation judg- 
ment would not be executed. This fact ought always to 
be born in mind while studying prophecy. Oftentimes the 
prophet's utterances seem to fix the judgment of God un- 
alterably, when the repentance of the people averts the pun- 



236 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

ishment. Prophecy of judgment apart from the knowledge 
of God's mercy could have no point. Condemnation irre- 
vocably fixed could only harden and plunge into more 
reckless sinning. When destiny becomes fixed the divine 
policy is to withdraw and allow the coils to tighten on the 
victim until, thoroughly helpless, he is drawn into the in- 
evitable. 

ANALYSIS OF THE BOOK. 

I. Jonah's commission, i : 1-2. 
11. His attempt to resist God. 
(i) His flight. 1 : 3. 

(2) The storm, i : 4-6. 

(3) Jonah''s detection, i : 7-10. 

(4) Efforts to save him. i : 11-13. 

(5) The sailors' prayer, i : 14. 

(6) The sailors' deliverance, i : 15-16. 

(7) Jonah swallowed by the fish, i : 17. 

(8) His prayer. 2 : 1-9. 

(9) Jonah's deliverance. 2: 10. 
HI. Jonah obeys. 

(i) The commission renewed. 3 : 1-2. 

(2) Preaches in Nineveh. 3 : 3-4. 

(3) Nineveh repents. 3 : 5-9. 

(4) Nineveh delivered. 3:10. 
IV. Jonah instructed. 

(i) His displeasure. 4: 1-5. 

(2) The lesson of the gourd. 4:6-11. 
Jonah and His Work. — As we have said Jonah's narrow 
views of the mercy of God and the mission of the He- 
brew nation accounts for his reluctance to obey God's com- 
mand. It is not at all probable that Jonah thought he 
could escape from the eye of God by fleeing to Tarshish. 
It was an effort to get beyond the limits of his official work. 
It was an attempt to resign his office and quit the prophetic 



IN THE BIBLE. 237 

service of God. The book was probably not written until 
some years after the occurrence of the events recorded in 
it. Many different views have been held in regard to the 
book. Some make it simply a pictorial presentation of an 
epoch in the prophet's history and allow no miracles ; oth- 
ers believe that it is a record of the real events as they oc- 
curred, making his deliverance from death a. miracle; and 
others hold a position midway between these . There is 
nothing in the account itself which would take it out of the 
catalogue of biblical miracles and until something more 
trustworthy than ingenious fancies is offered, however 
plausible they may be, we prefer to adhere to the text and 
consider it a simple, straightforward account of what actu- 
ally did occur. There is no doubt in regard to the place 
the book occupies in the biblical narrative. 

Jonah is both typical and symbolical. He typifies Christ 
in that he was sent to preach to a wicked people, that he 
was three days in the fish, that he was vomited to land on 
the third day. Christ was sent to the world, was three days 
in the grave, and rose the third day. Nineveh typifies the 
world in that it was a wicked city and was delivered by the 
preaching of Jonah. The world was living in sin when 
Christ came and was saved by Christ's preaching. But this 
whole transaction is also symbolical ; i. e., it had a lesson 
for Israel in the time of Jonah. The nation could learn 
from the salvation of Nineveh the attitude they themselves 
ought to take if they were to escape the punishment due 
them for sin. The symbolism was so plain that the na- 
tion could easily have learned from it that Jehovah was not 
a God of the Jews only, but of heathen nations as well. 
Another lesson which they might have learned from it was 
that when prophecy w^as not fulfilled it was not because 
God changed, but that the people to whom the prophecy 
came repented and thus averted the punishment. When 



238 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

Jonah was despondent God dealt with him very quietly 
and tenderly. Like Elijah, Jonah needed a lesson in re- 
gard to God's mercy. We believe we can see in this the 
prominent thought in the author's mind. Whenever the 
story has led us up to this point it abruptly closes. "And 
should not I spare Nineveh^ that great city^ wherein are 
more than six-score thousand persons, that cannot discern 
between their right hand and their left and also much cat- 
tle." The lesson was sealed home by the Spirit and when 
Jonah had given it to Israel he laid down his pen. 

THE PROPHECY OP AMOS. 

Amos prophesied in the reign of Jeroboam II. We have 
studied the biblical history of that period. It is principally 
an account of military successes. The Book of Amos re- 
flects much light on the moral and social condition of the 
northern kingdom at that time. She had reached the acme 
of her political glory and power. Rich, prosperous and 
worldly, the nation was resting in a false sense of security, 
although she was tottering to the fall. The Book of Amos 
admits of analysis. It consists first of an introduction, 
which reviews briefly the crimes and punishments of 
heathen nations and of Israel ; second, Israel's crimes and 
doom; and third, a series of visions with interludes. The 
second part consists of three addresses, each one begin- 
ning with the summons. "Hear this word." The first 
address is found in the third chapter, the second in the 
fourth^ and the third in the fifth and sixth chapters. The 
first address presses upon the national conscience trans- 
gression and penalty^, and reminds Israel of her obligation 
to God; the second is taken up entirely with reproof of 
prevailing sins ; the third calls to repentance in view of 
judgment, the destruction of the nation and the captivity 
of the people. The third part includes five visions : 



IN THE BIBLE. 239 

I. A vision of locusts. 2 A vision of fire. 3. A vi- 
sion of the Lord standing by the altar. 

The style of the Book is worthy of remark. The proph- 
et's language is terse and forcible. His imagery is vivid 
and such as would come naturally from a shepherd's ex- 
perience. His paragraphs hurry on to a climax as if car- 
ried forward by the prophet's sense of the importance of 
his message. Transition sentences are generally omitted 
which give to the thought an abruptness, which to say the 
least, is startling. But it is easier to study the book in sec- 
tions and without further analysis or remark we turn to 

The Prophet's Call. — ^Amos i : 1-2; 7: 14-15; 3: 6. Amos 
stoutly refused to be classed among the professional pro- 
phets. This is not strange^ for the prophets of Israel had 
degenerated to such a degree as to lose the respect of all 
honest right-thinking men. He was a shepherd of Te- 
koa, a native of the southern kingdom, and in no way a 
partner in the evils of Samaria. The burden of Israel must 
have rested very heavy upon him to impel him to a task 
apparently so foreign to his training and his ambition. Yet 
his is not an exceptional case. Indeed, history verifies 
the statement that reformers generally come from the more 
common walks of life^ especially when the effort is to be 
directed against the evils that grow out of luxurious living. 
Amos was, in all probability, somewhat acquainted with 
social life in Samaria. It was not a long journey from his 
home to the capital of the northern kingdom and business, 
connected with the sale of his wool and other products of 
his flocks, would lead him to visit the city. He would wit- 
ness the social sins and oppression from an unprejudiced 
point of view because he was not a party to them. These 
would impress him deeply, for he was God-fearing and pa- 
triotic for the whole Hebrew race. Meditation on the de- 
fection of Isael and zeal for the worship of Jehovah would 



240 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

stir his soul deeply and develop in him the prophetic talent. 
Amos had the facts and was not restrained from telling 
them by any sympathy with the crimes or participation in 
them. But the facts were not his inspiration; they were 
simply the material of his prophecy. The inspiration came 
from his conception of justice and righteousness, which 
were the products of the movement of his soul toward God. 
He was thus preparing to be God's messenger,, and the call 
was the natural step in the divine method. Jerusalem was 
the center of the religion that gave Amos his inspiration. 
"The Lord will roar from Zion and utter his voice from Je- 
rusalem." It is not revealed exactly how the call came 
to him. It may have been only a spirit-born conviction. 
The whole book is free from the miraculous^ which inclines 
us to think that the call was the more silent operation of 
the Spirit in the conscience of the prophet. Whatever it 
was Amos felt that it was of God. "Then answered Amos 
and said to Amaziah, I was no prophet, neither was a pro- 
phefs son; but I was a herdman and a gatherer of syca- 
more fruit. And the Lord took me as I followed the flock 
and the Lord said unto me, Go, prophesy unto my people 
Israel. 7: 14-15. The call came with an imperativeness 
that admitted of neither refusal nor delay. "The Hon hath 
roared ; who shall not fear? Jehovah hath spoken ; who 
can but prophesy?" In obedience to it Amos went into 
the very center of the corruption and wickedness of Israel 
and uttered the words of the Lord with a sublime fearless- 
ness and fidelity. 

THE INTRODUCTION. CHAPTERS 1—2. 

I. Judgment pronounced on 
(i) Syria. 1:3-5- 

(2) Philistia. i : 6-8. 

(3) Tyre, i : 9-10. 



IN THE BIBLE. 241 

(4) Edom. 1 : 11-12. 

(5) Ammon. i : 13-15. 

(6) Moab. 2: 1-3. 

(7) Judah. 2:4-5. 

II. Summary of Israel's sin and doom, 
(i) Extortion and lust. 2 : 6-8. 

(2) God's goodness to the nation rehearsed. 2 : 

9-12. 

(3) The judgment would press hope and cour- 

age out of them. 2: 13-16. 

The Prophet's Wise Introduction of His Theme. — Amos 
exercised great tact in introducing his subject to the north- 
ern kingdom. Impending judgment is never a pleasant 
theme and to the inhabitants of Samaria at that time it 
would be especially unsavory. The influence of such 
preaching depends to a degree on our estimate of the 
preacher. Amos was a citizen of the southern kingdom. 
The relation between the nations had never been the most 
cordial and although not in open hostility at this time yet 
one v/as not in a state of mind to receive^ gracefully a re- 
proof from the other. Amos therefore first wins the con- 
fidence of Samaria by pronouncing judgment upon her ene- 
mies. 

Damascus is mentioned first. Hazael had Ben-hadad 
were the kings who afiflicted Israel most severely. Almost 
fifty years before Amos prophesied Gilead had suffered 
very cruel treatment. It is well expressed in the figure of 
threshing instruments of iron. These were something 
like the Roman Trihulum or harrow which was drawn over 
the accumulated straw to thresh the grain from it. The 
judgment was captivity. 

Gaza is next mentioned. This was one of the chief ci- 
ties of Philistia. Ashdod. Askelon and Ekron were to 
suffer like penalty. Gath, the other of the five powerful 



242 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

cities of Philistia, had fallen before the time of Amos. It 
is a little difficult to understand exactly what the prophet 
means by his allusion to delivering' up the whole captivity 
to Edom. It can scarcely refer to the disposition of pris- 
oners taken in open warfare^ for the laws of nations al- 
lowed these to be sold. It is altogether probable that Ga- 
za was a chief center of traffic in slaves stolen from neigh- 
boring tribes in times of peace. 

Tyre was to suffer for the same offense and for the vio- 
lation of the brotherly covenant. This may mean tlie 
treaty between Israel and Tyre or a covenant between ci- 
ties of Phoenicia themselves. Tyre afterward did take 
part with Assyria against her sister cities, and the allusion 
here may be to some breach of faith of similar nature. 

Edom was to suffer for her unrelenting fury and her 
cruel raids upon southern Judah. 

Ammon was to go into captivity for cruelty to the Gi- 
leadites. She would be swept away as "with shouting in 
the day of battle, with a tempest in the day of the whirl- 
wind/' 

Moab was to be judged for her barbarity toward the 
bones of the king of Edom. We can only theorize in le- 
gard to the occasion of the barbarous conduct of Moab. 
It is reasonable to suspect that it was after the invasion 
of Moab by the combined armies of Israel, Judah and 
Edom when the king of Moab was driven to the extreme 
of sacrificing his son to Moloch. It may have been in re- 
venge for the part Edom took in this^ invasion that Mcab 
desecrated the tomb of the king of Edom. 

Judah, also, had sinned grievously, but her sinning was 
not in the same line. The sins of the other nations were 
against humanity, but the sin of Judah was against God. 
Judgment, however^ would not be withheld because they 



IN THE BIBLE. 243 

were the peculiar people of God. They had sinned against 
great light, and the punishment would be severe. 

Israel would look kindly on a prophet who pronounced 
judgment on these neighboring nations. But the prophet 
now turns his attention to Samaria. "Thus vSaith the Lord : 
For three transgressions of Israel and for four I will not 
turn away the punishment thereof; because they sold the 
righteous for silver and the poor for a pair of shoes " This 
means that their judges were taking bribes end condemn- 
ing the righteous, and that for a debt no larger than the 
price of a pair of sandals the creditor would sell the debtor 
into slavery. Condemnation had been pronounced on the 
other nations^ not because they had sinned against Israel, 
but chiefly because of barbarous atrocities against other 
neighboring tribes or cities. The crime of Israel was against 
her own citizens. The sins of Israel, when compared v/ith 
the sins of the others^ were more grievous. The compari- 
son was altogether to the advantage of the heathen. Ex- 
tortion, cruelty and licentiousness are kindred sins. We 
take it that the nation that perverts justice sanctions lust, 
licenses crime, oppresses the poor, legislates in favor of 
the rich, sins more deeply against her own national life 
and the law of God than the one whose foreign policy is 
criminally exacting or dangerously lax. Armies from 
without are never so dangerous to a nation as corruption 
and oppression within. Spanish cruelty in Cuba makes 
the American burn with indignation, and this is well. But 
it would be wise to examine conditions existing within our 
own nation that oppress some^ tempt others to lives of sin, 
nullify the law of God and profane the home on whose puri- 
ty and sacredness rests our freedom and glory. 

ANALYSIS. AMOS 3: 1-15. 

I. A call to hear because of former mercies. 3: 
1-2. 



244 



PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 



11. The prophet vindicates his commission. 3: 3-8. 

III. Call to other nations to witness the judgment 

and testify. 3:9, 13, 14, 15, 10, 11, 12. 

IV. Judgment on the women of Samaria for op- 

pression and drunkenness. 4: 1-3. 
V. Ironical call to the impure worship in which 
they trusted to save them. 4: 4-5. 
VL The prophet recounts former judgments which 
did not lead to repentace. 4:6-11. 
VII. Therefore, the impending judgment would be 
more severe. 4: 12-13. 
VIII. Exhortation to turn to the Lord. 5 : 4-9. 
IX. If they do not repent, judgment will come. 5: 
10-13. 
X. Another exhortation to repentance. 5 : 14-15. 
XL The prophet foresees they will not hearken, 
therefore they must suffer. 5 : 16-20. 
XII. God's attitude toward their religiousness. 5 : 
21-23. 

XIII. Sincerity required. 5 : 24-27. 

XIV. Israel's sense of security. 6: 1-6. 
XV. Destruction impending. 6: 7-11. 

XVI. The folly of attempting to resist God. 6: 12-14. 
XVII. The judgment of God vindicated. 7 : 1-8. 
(i) Destruction by locusts averted. 

(2) Destruction by drought averted. 

(3) Amos instructed. 
XVIIL Judgment complete. 7: 9. 

XIX. Interference of Amaziah. 7 : 10-17. 

XX. Israel ripe for judgment. 8: 1-3. 
XXI. Their religion was irksome to them. 8 : 4-6. 
XXII. Punishment. 8:7-10 
XXIII. In those days they will desire a prophet. 8: 
11-14. 



IN THE BIBLE. 245 

XXIV. IsraeFs doom certain. 9: i-io. 

XXV. But not final. 9: 11-15. 

Israel's Criterion of Morals. — It is in place here to recall 
that the character of God was Israel's criterion of morals. 
The morality that Amos insisted upon was not something 
new and foreign to the nation. But it is not difficult to 
see that the prophets take advance ground than that occu- 
pied by the nation during the Judges and early kings. The 
reason of this is apparent. As the Hebrews learned more 
and more of the character of God the written law as well 
as the unwritten would have a wider application. The na- 
tion at this time ought to have known God so well that a 
prophet would not have been needed to outline the future 
if gross violation of God's law was unrestrained. That 
they had not so learned God is evidence of wilful stubborn- 
ness which made their sin the blacker. Therefore, they 
were not held responsible because they failed to hear some 
new deliverance of the lawmaking power, but simply be- 
cause they failed to develop a purer, truer life under the 
frJler revelations of God''s character furnished by his provi- 
dential administration of their national affairs. 

No Escape from Judgment, — The body of the prophecy 
begins with the third chapter. Although spoken to a rich, 
luxurious city, the imagery of this chapter is largely drawn 
from shepherd life. His introductory address, which we 
have studied, may have caused some inquiry into the pro- 
phet's authority. Verses 3-8 vindicate his commission. 
The Spirit of God and the prophet could not walk togeth- 
er except they were agreed. As the lion would not roar in 
the forest, except the prey was in his power, neither would 
God proclaim destruction to a people not in his power. 
Israel was in the snare ; she was in God's hand. The Lord 
hath roared. Israel is in the hand of God. It had been 
the policy of God to reveal his secrets to his servants the 



246 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

prophets. His hand was on Amos^ and he could not do 
otherwise than prophecy. The remainder of the chapter 
is a call to other nations to assemble and testify. The sense 
of it will be plainer if verses 13, 14 and 15 are inserted be- 
tween verses 9 and 10. The destruction of the nation was 
to be complete, and the adversary,, Assyria, would carry 
them away a mere remnant^ as the shepherd might take 
two legs or a piece of an ear out the mouth of the lion. 

The Nation Was Religions. — We have alluded to the fact 
several times that the Jew had a narrow provincial view 
of Jehovah. This is not altogether surprising when we 
recall that this first idea of God would be the one the He- 
brew mind would first grasp when he became their nation- 
al ruler at Sinai. The Mosaic cerfemonialism would foster 
another idea closely related to this one, namely that the 
performance of these rites was all God required in his wor- 
ship. We have seen that both these ideas were potent 
in the development of the nation. The difficulty lay in the 
fact that the Hebrew refused to advance to a higher plane 
with a wider view. They were still intensely religious and 
could not understand why the heartless performance of 
ceremonial rites could fail to be acceptable with God. 
Neither could they see how any modification of these rites 
which brought them more into harmony with their own 
ideas of the fitness of things could mar their beauty and 
appropriateness in the eyes of God. Amos saw things ex- 
actly in the same light in which a wise student of their own 
time would have seen them. He knew that God was not 
bound to save his people regardless of their attitude to- 
ward him. He saw that the dead ceremoniaHsm of their 
worship was not pleasing to God. ''Come to Bethel, and 
transgress; at Gilgal (another seat of worship) multiply 
transgressions ; and bring your sacrifices every morning 
and your tithes after three years ; and offer sacrifice of 



IN THE BIBLE. 247 

thanksgiving with leaven and proclaim and publish the free 
offerings, for this is what you like to do» O ye children of 
Israel, said the Lord God." 

The Visions. — Israel had come to the last stage of her 
political existence. The only punishment now left seems 
to be political disaster, the conquest of the nation by the 
power beyond Damascus. Famine, drought and pesti- 
lence had all been tried and had all failed to bring the peo- 
ple back to the pure worship of Jehovah. If they refuse 
to repent now, captivity is the inevitable. 

This section of the Book of Amos covers the same 
ground as the preceding but in somewhat different man- 
ner. We are not able to determine fully what the prophet 
himself may have interpreted the destruction which he pro- 
claimed to mean, at least up to this point. Amos must 
have seen in the visions of the grasshoppers and drought 
a far more sweeping destruction than these events would 
mean to the ordinary Hebrew. The nation had suffered 
these things before and might do so again and recover. 
To Amos they seemed a final destruction. His heart was 
moved with pity and he prayed that they might be avert- 
ed. God answered his prayer but showed him by a third 
vision of the plumb line that justice demanded the punish- 
ment and it was right. God is justified in the prophet's 
own mindj and he then presents the visions to the people. 
The vision of the basket of summer fruit indicates the im- 
minence of the judgment and the vision of the Lord stand- 
ing by the altar, the destruction of the great source of Is- 
rael's sin. 

The closing verses of this prophecy may have been add- 
ed by the prophet some time after he preached the rest 
of the book to Israel. It may have been given publicly 
to the northern kingdom. Their unrepenting state of mind 



248 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

could scarcely have called forth this vision of future bless- 
ing as an incentive to reform. It seems to relate more 
specifically to the southern kingdom. Amos evidently saw 
them in vision again united, the peculiar people of God. 



IN THE BIBLE. 249 



XII. 

THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE 
NORTHERN KINGDOM. 



ANALYSIS. 

I. Reign of Shallum. 2 Kings 15: 13-14. 
II. Reign of Menahem. 

(i) Conquered Tiphsah. 2 Kings 15: 16. 

(2) Character of his reign. 2 Kings 15: 17-18. 

(3) Invasion of Pul, king of Assyria. 2 Kings 

15: 19-20. 

(4) His death. 2 Kings 15: 21-22. 

III. Reign of Pekahiah, son of Menahem. 2 Kings 

15 : 23-24. 

IV. Pekah''s reign. 

(i) Usurps the throne. 2 Kings 15 : 25. 

(2) Character of his reign. 2 Kings 15 : 27-28. 

(3) Invasion of Tiglath-pileser and deporta- 

tion of the inhabitants of Gilead and 
Galilee. 2 Kings 15 : 29. 

(4) Pekah and Rezin invade Judah. 2 Kings 

16:5-6. 

(5) Judah secures the aid of Assyria. 2 Kings 

16:7-9. 

(6) Rezin is slain and the kingdom of Syria 

destroyed. 2 Kings 16:9. 
V. Hoshea on the throne of Israel. 2 Kings 15 : 30. 
(i) Character of his reign. 2 Kings 17: 2. 
(2) Becomes subject to Assyria. 2 Kings 17 : 3. 



250 



PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 



(3) Conspires with Egypt against Assyria and 

is imprisoned. 2 Kings 17: 4. 

(4) Siege of Samaria. 2 Kings 17: 5. 

(5) The northern kingdom destroyed and the 

people carried captive. 2 Kings 17:6. 

(6) The judgment justified. 2 Kings 17: 7-18. 

(7) Assyria colonizes Israel. 2 Kings 17: 24. 

(8) Lions sent among them. 2 Kings 17: 25. 

(9) Priests sent to teach them. 2 Kings 17: 

26-28. 



t 


Rezin 




740 


735 722 


13 

cn 

M 


5hallutn 


Menahem Pekahiah 


Pekah 


Hoshea 






Hosea. 


Isaiah. 








f 


N 




Jothom Ahaz 


Hezekiah 




pi 
1— > 






737 735 


727 


cn 
cn 


Tiglath-pileser 11. (Pul) 


Shalmanazar IV. 



Israel after the Reign of Jeroboam II. — The military 
despotism estabhshed by Jeroboam II. now bore its legit- 
imate fruit. The captain of the army did not hesitate to 
usurp the throne. Dynasty followed dynasty in rapid 



IN THE BIBLE. 251 

succession. Zachariah reigned six months and Shallum 
one month. The nation settled down under Menahem, 
but Pekahiah, his son^ fell before the usurper, Pekah. Ro- 
sea characterizes this period as a time when "blood touch- 
eth blood." Foreign as well as domestic enemies threat- 
ened the life of the nation. Syria was already tributary to 
Assyria. But Rezin^ an adventurer, placed himself on her 
tottering throne and attempted to break the Assyrian yoke. 
To this end he sought alliance with Pekah of Israel, and 
together they invaded Judah in the hope of placing a king 
on her throne who would co-operate with them against As- 
syria. Ahaz of Judah hired the king of Assyria to help 
him, and thus the army most to be dreaded by the states 
of Western Asia was again brought into Syria and Israel. 
What remains of the story of the northern kingdom can be 
told in few words. Rezin was killed and the kingdom of 
Syria, which had so long been a prominent factor in the 
politics of Western Asia, was completely destroyed. Israel 
was made a vassal to Assyria and Hoshea placed on her 
throne. 

The Fall of the Northern Kingdom. — Egypt was still 
a strong nation and always ready to do what she could to 
weaken the power of her rival, Assyria. Hoshea^ king of 
Israel, thought the time had come to free Israel from As- 
syrian oppression. It was easy to secure promises of help 
from Egypt, and on the strength of these promises he re- 
fused to pay the Assyrian tribute and plunged into open 
revolt. When Pekah and Rezin had attacked Judah there 
was some apparent chance of success should they unite 
against Assyria. Now, the revolt of Hoshea was more the 
movement of desperation. Assyria was a mighty nation, 
but her provinces were not closely united either in sym- 
pathy or interest. This accounts for her fitful advance into 
Palestine. The Israelite always had some hope that her 



252 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

armies would never again return, that her dislocated king- 
dom would fall to pieces. Previous to the time of Tiglath- 
pileser the policy of Assyria had been to exact tribute from 
her vassals, but to leave them in the enjoyment of their 
own governmental policy. But when Tiglath-pileser 
usurped the throne of Assyria and assumed the name of 
an ancient and powerful king he seemed to be actuated by 
a desire for a world-wide rule. Therefore, he adopted the 
policy of trasporting the inhabitants of a conquered nation 
and colonizing it with captives brought from a distant na- 
tion. Before, conquest meant tribute, now it meant polit- 
ical death. Hence when the Israelites saw their king held 
for tribute which they were unable to pay and captivity in 
a foreign land their probable destiny they rallied in Samaria 
and withstood a siege which has few parallels in history. 
For three years they fought with a courage born of desper- 
ation. The inevitable came at last, and the northern king- 
dom fell to rise no more. History is silent in regard to the 
final destiny of the Ten Tribes. Many prophecies would 
seem to indicate that they were to be restored to their 
country sometime. But when we remember that God's 
promises are generally conditioned on human co-opera- 
tion, who can say that the Israelites did not fail to fulfill 
the necessary conditions. Some of them at least must 
have wandered back. Luke 2 : 36. 

Although some of the Israelites may have escaped cap- 
ture or wandered back in later years to their native land, 
yet the territory of the northern kingdom was colonized 
with strangers. The origin of the Samaritans of Christ's 
time is uncertain. Some suppose them to have been de- 
scendants of the ancient Israelites, and others hold that 
their ancestors were strangers placed there at the time 
of the captivity. History records the fact that these colo- 
nists worshipped the Hebrew God. The author of the 



IN THE BIBLE. 253 

Book of Kings, in closing the history of Israel briefly and 
clearly relates their fall to defection from God. In sum- 
ming up the causes he vindicates the justice and mercy of 
God in thus sweeping from the earth a nation so pecul- 
iarly favored and yet so derelict in duty. 

THE PROPHESY OF HOSEA. 

The prophecy of Hosea is more difficult to study than 
that of Amos. It begins in the reign of Jeroboam II. and 
covers a period of at least sixty years. Chapters 1-3 are 
complete in themselves and relate to a period earHer than 
the remainder of the book. This is sufficient explanation 
for the difference of style in the two parts of the prophecy^ 
a difference that some critics have not been slow to mag- 
nify into a proof of two Hoseas, living fifty years apart. 
The prophecy is a fitting complement of the book of Amos. 
While not devoid of a sense of God's mercy Amos leaves 
us without any clue as to how this mercy is to be ex- 
tended to Israel. The law is the prominent factor with 
Amos and God's pardoning grace with Hosea. When 
Amos was pronouncing judgment on Israel on account of 
her sins, when Lycurgus was legislating his code, Hosea 
was preaching a mercy through vindicated law, which 
made repentance and change of attitude toward God pre- 
requisites to mercy. 

Pusey says of the prophecy : "The words of upbraid- 
ing of judgment^ of woe burst out, one by one, heavily, 
condensed, abrupt, from the prophet's heavy and shrinking 
soul as though each sentence burst with a groan from his 
heart and he had anew to take breath before he uttered 
each succeeding woe. Each verse forms a whole in itself 
like one heavy toll of a funeral knell." 



254 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

CHAPTERS 1-3. 

Three different views are held in regard to the interpre- 
tation of these chapters. 

1. A parable. Hosea used the general impurity of the 
times to illustrate the attitude of the nation toward God. 

2. A vision. Hosea saw in vision himself married to 
an impure woman and was thus led to a deeper sense of Is- 
rael's sin in deserting Jehovah for idols. 

3. Literal. Hosea was actually caught in the general 
defection of the times and married an impure woman 
whom he loved devotedly. 

The point in this part of the prophecy is much the same 
whichever view is held. There is some internal evidence 
that the literal interpretation is the correct one. We have 
seen in the study of Amos something of the relation of 
the prophet's culture to his work. Amos was prepared 
by his shepherd life to see the danger and by his medita- 
tion on the law to be the herald of judgment. There could 
not have been a better prepartion for Hosea's work than 
the actual suffering of a loving heart under the actual ex- 
perience of the events recorded in these chapters. If it 
is a parable his own experience must be its background. 
The awakening to a sense of his shame may be traced in 
the names of his children, and names in those days meant 
something. Jezreel — God will punish — ■-, the Amos view 
of God but no tincture of shame. Lo-ruhamah may be 
read, Never knew a father's love; Lo-ammi, No kin of 
mine. His home was wrecked yet time after time did his 
loving heart prompt to effort to reclaim his wife to puri- 
ty and honor. His experience gave a pathos of love to 
his prophecy which may be traced throughout the whole 
book. When chapters 1-3 were given his own experience 



IN THE BIBLE. 255 

was fresh in his memory. In the remainder of the Book 
it appears only as it had moulded the man and enlarged his 
sympathy. 

ANALYSIS. 

I. The Lord's controversy with Israel. 4: 1-19. 
(i) Reasons for the controversy. 

a. Immorality permeating all relationships. 

4: 1-5. 

b. Lack of knowledge for which the priests 
are specially to blame. 4: 6. 10. 

c. Insensate lust for which elders are special- 
ly to blame. 4: 11-15. 

d. Obstinacy in sins, especially by chiefs. 4: 
16-19. 

11. A charge against priests^ princes and people with 
threats of punishment. Chaps. 5-6. 

III. The inward and outward sinfulness of Israel in 

which rulers lead will certainly be punished. 
Chap. 7. 

IV. Idolatry and schism the real cause of the imminent 

invasion of Israel. Chap. 8. 
V. A warning against false security. Chap. 9 : i-io. 
VI. Though God delighted in Israel, 9: 9-17, yet she 
incurred punishment by turning from him^ 
10: 1-15, but he loves her still, 11 : i-ii. 
VII. Israel and Judah, although sinful, are encouraged 

to return. Chap. 11 : 12 — 12: 6. 
VIII. Israel's sin must be punished. Chap. 12 : 7-14. 
IX. Israel's apostasy is so great that punishment is 
imminent, 13 : 1-16, yet a final appeal is made 
to save her, 14: 1-9. 
Application of the Prophecy of Hosea. — The prophecy 
of Hosea is intensely practical. The truly practical is not 
an ebullition of pious sentiment indifferent to fundamental 



256 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

principles, but an evolution from the relationship that God 
has imposed on the human soul. No preaching could be 
applied more closely than that of Hosea to Israel, none 
could be animated with an intenser earnestness and none 
could be winged to the heart of the hearer with a purer, 
stronger love. Love to God and repentance for sin were 
to grow out of knowledge of God and this expresses the 
movements of soul seeking God in any age or under any 
conditions. The nation was drifting to destruction because 
she had willingly thrown herself into the current and re- 
fused to lay hold on the rope flung from the throne of 
God's mercy. Other prophets built their sermons on the 
same principles and yet there is a difference. The burden 
of the prophecy of Amos to Israel was, turn back for de- 
struction is before you. Hosea warned them of impend- 
ing danger to the end that their love for God might lead 
them to repentance. The burden of his prophecy was, 
turn back for God is behind you ready to receive you to 
his loving protection. The preaching is virtually the same. 
The different way of presenting it is to be related to the 
character and education of the men. Amos was trained 
to be on the alert for danger and to avoid it; Hosea's ca- 
pacity to love had been developed and sorely tried by an 
erring wife. They were contemporaneous and together 
brought to bear upon Israel the strongest arguments pos- 
sible to induce her to reform. 

The Hebrezv Prophet Subject to Law. — The laws of the 
ancient Hebrews made false prophecy a capital offense. 
The prophet professed to speak with divine authority. God 
was the supreme sovereign of the nation^ and to proclaim 
edicts in his name but without his authority was a grave 
crime against the state. But it was a very difficult task to 
detect the false prophet and to bring him to punishment. 
When he predicted future events nothing but the future 



IN THE BIBLE. 257 

could either verify or falsify what he said. If he toned his 
preaching to the moral sense of the nation there would be 
but little disposition on the part of the rulers or people to 
vindicate the prophet or to convict him. No one could de- 
mand that the prophet work miracles to prove his claim. 
Any man could rise at any time and assume divine inspira- 
tion for what he said. He might speak freely and in most 
scathing terms denounce king and priest and people and 
yet find protection in the shelter of the law. The safer 
plan, however, and the more popular course was to speak 
only those things which were agreeable to the public sense. 
The temptation was a strong one and the or.der of the pro- 
phets, so long the conservative influence in the kingdom,, 
was grossly abused by an army of political aspirants. 
Therefore, the question is pertinent, How were the people 
to distinguish the true prophet from the false? The an- 
swer brings us back to the fundamental principle of right- 
ness and wrongness, which^ as we have before shown, is 
the character of God. The nation had been given ample 
opportunity to study this criterion of conduct, and if the 
people had failed to understand it fully enough to enable 
them to distinguish prophecies in keeping with that char- 
acter from prophecies contrary to it, the fault was their 
own. There is good reason to believe that in the later his- 
tory of Israel and Judah the great majority of those who 
claimed to be of the order of prophets profaned their office 
and, in a measure, destroyed the salutary influence of the 
true prophets when such did arise to denounce the evils of 
the nation. Amos refused to be classed among these pro- 
phets and Jeremiah says : "Thy prophets have seen vain 
and foolish things for thee ; and they have not discovered 
thine iniquity to turn away their captivity." But the pro- 
phecies of the Old Testament bear the stamp of truth, 



258 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

first, in that they are in perfect keeping with the inspired 
revelations of God's character; second, the highest con- 
ception of truth and righteousness of any age vindicates, 
their claim ; thirds their character is such as to preclude 
the idea that any selfish condiseration influenced the pro- 
phet to utter them. 

The Lesson of the Northern Kingdom. — ^The history of Is- 
rael closes in defeat and darkness. Her constitution was 
unsurpassed by any nation of any time in these things 
which make for stability and progress ; but she failed in- 
gloriously to come up to the measure of her possibilities. 
Attention has been called to the fact, that the military 
trend the nation took under Jeroboam I., became more and 
more despotic, as the years passed. When the civil rights 
had been filched from the people it is not strange that they 
should lose interest in the administration of public affairs. 
After all, militarism was a result of their defection from 
the worship of Jehovah. It may not be possible to draw 
a close parallel between Israel and any other nation, ex- 
cept Judah. The avowed purpose of the Hebrew nations 
was to keep pure the worshp of the true God. The North- 
ern Kingdom in large measure abandoned this purpose 
with the sin of Jeroboam, and yet she retained her funda- 
mental law. Her life therefore became a continual con- 
flict between all she had once held sacred in constitutional 
government and a short-sighted policy of present aggrand- 
izement and glory. She was willing to trade the establish- 
ed principle of political equality for the mirage of military 
and commercial supremacy. Apart from their ceremony 
of worship the Hebrews had a most liberal and substantial 
system of laws. Justice and righteousness were exalted. 
As a nation departs from these, caste sentiment rises. The 
lines on which caste feeling are drawn may differ in dif- 
ferent places and times, but nothing dries np the fountains 



IN THE BIBLE. 259 

of human sympathy more quickly and nothing is more po- 
tent to further the reign of cruelty and oppression. Greece 
and Rome are often spoken of as "the cradle of liberty." 
This honor is due the Hebrew nation. In so far as Greece 
and Rome embodied the fundamental principles of the He- 
brew commonwealth,, they became agents in the conserva- 
tion of liberty. The advanced nations of the world to-day 
have not attained their civilization by the development of 
the political germ of any pagan nation of antiquity. They 
have simply incorporated into their national polity those 
far-reaching doctrines of man's relation to man, found in 
the Hebrew laws. 



260 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 



XIII. 

THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE 
SOUTHERN KINGDOM. 



ANALYSIS— AHAZ-ZEDEKIAH. 

I. Reign of Ahaz. 

(i) His wickedness. 2 Chron. 28 : 1-4. 

(2) Syro-Ephraimitish invasion. 28: 5-7. 

(3) Lost many captives which were returned 

on the advice of Oded. 28:8-15. 

(4) Hired Assyria to help him. 28: 16-21. 

(5) Sacrificed to the gods of Damascus. 28: 

22-25. 
CI. Hezekiah's reign. 

(i) Repaired the temple and restored reli- 
gion. 2 Chron. 29: 3-36. 

(2) Attempt to unite Israel and Judah in keep- 

ing the Passover. 30: 1-9. 

(3) Israel treats the ofifer lightly. 30: 10. 

(4) Yet some of them respond. 30: it. 

(5) The Passover kept. 30: 12-27; 3^ • !• 

(6) Re-established Levitical worship. 31 : 

2-21. 

(7) Sennecherib's invasion. 2 Kings 18: 13. 

(8) Hezekiah pays tribute to him. 2 Kings 18: 

14-16. 

(9) Sennecherib comes again because Hezeki- 

ah had conspired with Egypt. 2 Chron. 
32: 1-19. 

(10) The deliverance. 32 : 20-23. 

(11) Hezekiah's sickness and death. 32: 24-33. 



IN THE BIBLE. 261 

III. Manasseh's reign. 

(i) Character of his reign. 2 Chron. 33 : 1-2. 

(2) His idolatry. 33 : 3-9. 

(3) His captivity and release. 33 : 10-13. 

(4) Manasseh's reforms. 33: 14-17. 

(5) His death. 33: 18-20. 

IV. Amon's reign. 

(i) His wickedness. 2 Chron. 33 : 21-23. 

(2) Killed by his servants. 33 : 24. 

(3) His assassins slain and Josiah made king. 

33 : 25. 
V. Josiah's reign. 

(i) Repaired the temple. 2 Chron. 34: 1-13. 

(2) Book of the Law found. 34: 14-18. 

(3) The nation brought to conform to it. 34 : 

19-33- 

(4) Passover kept. 35 : 1-19. 

(5) Attacks Egypt at Carchemish. 35 : 20-22. 

(6) Is killed in battle. 35 : 23-27. 
VI. Jehoahaz's reign. 

Conquered and carried captive to Babylon. 
2 Chron. 36: 1-4. 
VII. Jehoiakim king. 

Conquered and carried captive to Babylon. 
2 Chron. 36: 5-8. 
VIII. Jehoiachin king. 

Carried captive to Babylon. 2 Chron. 36: 
9-10. 
IX. Zedekiah king. 

Carried into captivity and the kingdom de- 
stroyed. 2 Chron. 36: 11-21. 

THE PROPHECY OF ISAIAH. 

Isaiah and His Times. — The Books of Kings and 
Chronicles hurry over the closing reigns of the kingdom 



262 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

of Judah with a haste that suggests lack of interest. The 
purpose of these books is to give the evolution of the 
religious life of the nation. This is largely embodied in 
the prophecies of the time, and the biblical history only 
forms a background to them. The national life of Judah 
lost meaning when she introduced polytheism. But the 
prophecies, while of significance for that time, reveal so 
much of God, his character and purpose, that they have 
lost nothing of interest during the centuries since then. 
Having gone over the biblical account of the last days of 
the nation, we purpose a more extended study of the times 
as revealed in the prophets and ancient inscriptions of oth- 
er nations. 

The Assyrian power was dominant in Western Asia at 
the time of Uzziah. Egypt was the other pole of the po- 
litical world . Judah lay between them. The problems, 
therefore, that a statesman in Judah had to face were by no 
means simple ones. When Uzziah ascended the throne the 
kingdom was at a very low ebb, but his strong and aggres- 
sive reign recovered to the nation much of what it had 
lost. Jotham's reign was of the same character. But the 
weak and wicked Ahaz dissipated the benefits of these 
strong lives. The Prophecy of Isaiah supplements the 
brief history of this period. No prophet stands in closer 
relation to the history of his times. The deep moral prin- 
ciples that give character to human activity have always 
been the same. 

Therefore, the significance of the prophet's utterances,^ 
founded as they are on these principles, is as pointed and 
as great as it ever was. The same sins that threatened 
the destruction of the northern kingdom in the time of 
Jeroboam II. overthrew Rome, and they are to-day sap- 
ping the life from many families and social circles. The 
same disposition that prevailed in Judah and eventually 



IN THE BIBLE. 263 

led to her destruction is duplicated to-day in a desire to 
ignore God in national affairs and to follow a weak and va- 
cillating political policy. It becomes every civilized na- 
tion on the globe to guard with jealous care the inherent 
rights of the poorer classes, lest vast accumulation of 
wealth in the hands of few^ induce a system of oppression 
and dissipation not compatible with a high grade of morals. 
Our purpose is not a practical application of prophecy to 
modern society and politics, but to study the words of the 
prophets in the light of the environments of their own age 
and country. The opportunity for such a study has never 
been so good as at present. Science has succeeded in 
spelling out the Cunieform Assyrian inscriptions. It is 
remarkable how closely these remnants of ancient history 
correspond to the biblical narrative. Although they have 
an air of bombast about them that indicates a barbarous 
age and uncultured minds, yet in them may be traced the 
movements of the Assyrian armies durmg every year of 
Isaiah's prophecy. 

The Call of Isaiah to the Prophetic Office. — The call of 
Isaiah to his office is recorded in the sixth chapter. The 
book is not arranged chronologically, and this chapter may 
be out of its natural place, which would seem to be at the 
first of the book. Internal evidence, which will devel-- 
op as we study his first prophecies, suggests that after 
a certain experience in prophetic work Isaiah may have re- 
called the circumstances of his call to that office, to reas- 
sure his own mind and strengthen him for further work. 
The call is surely noteworthy, and yet it is strikingly par- 
allel to the experience of every one who has ever felt him- 
self commissioned of God to any work. We have 

(i) A vision of the Lord. 6 : 1-4. 

(2) The natural result of a sense of God's presence. 

6:5. 



264 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

(3) A divinely implanted sense of pardon. 6 : 6-7. 

(4) A sense of obligation and willingness to respond 

to it. 6 : 8. 

(5) The commission. 6:9-13. 

Isaiah had been a temple worshipper all his life, for he 
was a citizen of Jerusalem. During the experience of the 
recorded call to the prophetic office he broke through the 
formality of the temple service and experienced a sense of 
the real presence of Jehovah. The holiness of the Lord 
impressed him with a consciousness of his own sinfulness, 
which led him to cry out for pardon. After an experi- 
mental assurance of pardoning grace the invitation to be 
God's messenger comes to him, and the very arduous work 
is taken up cheerfully and with zeal. 

The Book. — The relation of Assyria to Palestine de- 
termines in a great measure the character of Isaiah's pro- 
phecies. There were four Assyrian invasions during this 
period. 

1. By Tiglath-pileser. ((Pul), 734-732, while Ahaz was 
on the throne of Judah. 

2. By Shalmanezer and Sargon, at which time Samaria 
fell, 725-720. 

3. By Sargon. 712-710. 

4. By Sennacherib, during Hezekiah's reign, 701. 

The chapters are not arranged chronologically, which 
makes it difficult to study the book intelligently. Chapters 
1-39 are spoken from the point of view of a divinely in- 
spired patriotic statesman. Chapters 40-66 relate more to 
the future glory of Messianic times, in which are inter- 
woven the clearest conceptions of the kingdom and the 
king that the world had yet enjoyed. Our study will ne- 
cessarily lead us along the lines of human agency in the 
affairs of God's people, but it is far from our purpose to 
suppress the divine element in it all. We allow to Isaiah's 



IN THE BIBLE. 265 

prophecies all of inspiration that the strongest advocates of 
the theory can ask. No one, however^ can shut his eyes 
to the progress that appears in the book. That progress 
is an advance in knowledge of Qod and the nation''s des- 
tiny. It is in such perfect harmony with ordinary human 
development that it suggests a relationship to the man. 
As he grew older he obtained a wider view of the politics 
of Western Asia ; as he learned more and more of the de- 
fection of his nation from God_, he ceased to look so much 
at the present and penetrated with prophetic view into the 
future. Although these glimpses are clearer and more 
extended in his later life, yet they are not confined to any 
period of his work. They come like flashes of light in the 
darkness. In them the prophet rises above the national 
character of their religion into the world-wide gospel of- 
fer. Isaiah's utterances of the present and the future are 
both the product of God's spirit using the man, his facul- 
ties and his culture to develop the divine scheme of mer- 
cy and grace. 

FIRST PERIOD OF' ISAIAH'S PROPHECY —CHAPTERS 2-5; 9: 8-10: 4. 

These chapters refer to the period of the reign of Jo- 
tham. The kingdom was in an outwardly prosperous con- 
dition. 2: 7, 12-16; 3: 16. The northern kingdom still 
existed (9 : 9) and was arranging to attack Judah. 9 : 20- 
21. (See 2 Kings 15: 37). These chapters are evidently 
abstracts of oral addresses and extend over a period of 
years. When Isaiah felt the movings of the prophetic 
spirit he was a young man, intensely patriotic. The po- 
litical sky of Judah was unclouded by any apprehension of 
danger. He had been reared in the city in daily contact 
with their national sins_, and hence was somewhat blinded 
to them. His first utterances are highly optimistic, as he 
saw an ideal Jerusalem. 2 : 1-5. 



266 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

This view of the future glory of the kingdom may have 
had no definite time relation in the prophets own mind, 
but as Jacob at Bethel needed a revelation of God's rela- 
tion to himself and his family to support him in the try- 
ing years through which he was to pass, so Isaiah here 
needed a glance into the future to support him when he 
turned his attention to the real state of the nation. But 
his tone soon changes and we have 

I. The present moral and spiritual condition of the 
people is very low. 2 : 6-9. 
II. Judgment on account of their sins to come upon 
them. 2 : 10-12. 

III. Judgment on those things in which they were re- 

joicing, 
(i) Their cedars and oaks. 2: 13. 

(2) Their mountains and hills on which were 

their idols. 2 : 14. 

(3) Their towers and fenced cities because 

they trusted in them. 2: 15. 

(4) Upon their ships of Tarshish which 

brought pleasant things to them. 2 : 16. 

IV. The judgment will be severe. 2: 17-21. 
V. Trust in man is vain. 2 : 22. 

VI. The calamities about to come on Judah would 
bring her into great destitution. 3 : 1-9. 
VII. Different states of the righteous and the wicked. 
3 : 10-12. 
VIII. The Lord pleads against the rulers. 3 : 13-15. 
IX. Judgment on the women. 3: 16 — 4: i. 
X. A glorious future for Jerusalem. 4 : 2-6. 
XL Basis of the arraignment — parables of the vine- 
yard. 5: 1-7. 
XII. Woes enumerated. 

(i) Against monopoly. 5 : 8-10. 



IN THE BIBLE. 267 

(2) Against drunkenness. 5: 11-17. 

(3) Against defiant scoffers. 5 : 18-19. 

(4) Against false teachers and the self-con- 

ceited. 5 : 20-21. 

(5) Against Judges who pervert justice to get 

means for their carousals. 5 : 22-24. 
XIII. Judgment upon Israel. 

(i) Loss of territory. 9: 8-12. 

(2) Israel cut off. 9: 13-17. 

(3) Internal anarchy. 9: 18-21. 

(4) Threat of captivity. 10:1-4. 

(5) A strong foreign nation to execute the 

judgment. 5 : 25-30. 

The Relation of this Section of the Prophecy to the Times 
and the Man. — Development in the knowledge of 
God is slow, yet one might naturally expect that the ex- 
perience of Judah would have given her a wider and tru- 
er view of Jehovah and his attitude toward sin than she 
appears to have had in Jotham's time. The difficulty 
lay in a conceited sense of self-sufificiency. They believ- 
ed in God in a sort of way; they relied on his promises 
to the nation, but they blindly ignored the conditions on 
which the fulfillment of these promises rested. At first 
Isaiah had the same unfounded assurance,, that come what 
might, Judah would ever be a dominant political power 
in the world and would eventually dictate to all other na- 
tions. But he soon saw below the surface of their nation- 
al and social life. He was led into this deeper insight by 
a truer conception of God's justice. At first he saw no- 
thing but the nation; afterward we hear less of the na- 
tion and more of God. His optimistic belief in the nation's 
future does not lessen, but he now realizes that it can be 
attained only by a close adherence to law and by sincerity 
in worship. He saw that the plausible exterior of Judah 



268 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

was deceptive, that society was rotten at the heart and that 
national affairs were administered in crass selfishness 
Apart from prophetic inspiration, a wise statesman, edu- 
cated in the divine method, could have forseen that only 
something exceptional would arouse the nation to a less 
stupid policy. But with the divine Spirit laying open to 
him the woeful degradation of the people and at the same 
time revealing the wise policy^ with the "Holy, Holy. Ho- 
ly is the Lord of Hosts" still sounding in his ears, he was 
oppressed with an awful sense of judgment. Still he 
hoped that judgment in process would bring Judah to a 
sense of her sin and to such true repentance that God 
tvould yet spare her. This deeper view of his nation's 
condition revealed to him how utterly unprepared she was 
to resist a foreign army. This he saw to be the lash with 
which God would scourge her. Indications had not yet 
focused sufficiently to enable him to pronounce the exact 
source of the impending punishment. Syria and Israel 
were yet alive and unfriendly to Judah. Assyria was en- 
gaged in war with Babylonia, which was a rising and rest- 
less power. Egypt on the south was never to be trusted. 
But this much was certain, Jehovah would come in judg- 
ment to vindicate his law. Rezin of Syria and Pekah of 
Israel were uniting their forces to invade Judah. Their 
unfriendly attitude calls the attention of the prophet to 
them_, and his clear eye saw the hollownes of their sham 
display of power. He saw them about to fall from internal 
wickedness and anarchy. The judgment about to over- 
take Israel closes this section of his prophecy. 

SYRO-EPHRAIMITISH INVASION. CHAPTERS 7-9: 7. 

I. Isaiah's first interview with Ahaz. 
(i) The occasion of it. 7: 1-2. 
(2) His son with him. 7: 3. 



IN THE BIBLE. 269 

(3) Assures Ahaz that the conspiracy will 
fail. 7: 4-9. 
II. Second interview. 

(i) Sign offered and refused. 7: 10-12. 

(2) A sign given. 7: 13-16. 

(3) Assyria to be the scourge of Judah. 7: 

17-20. 

(4) The land shall be desolate and almost un- 

inhabited. 7:21-25. 

III. Isaiah appeals to the people. 8 : 1-4. 

IV. Other messages given in connection with the at- 

tack of Judah by Israel and Syria, 
(i) Because Israel refuses God^s help and 
trusts to Assyria the land shall be de- 
livered to Assyria and the destruction 
shall sweep even over Judah. 8 : 5-8. 

(2) But the nations cannot utterly destroy 

Judah. 8 : 9-10. 

(3) The faithful encouraged to trust the Lord 

and not to fear this conspiracy. 8: 11-15. 

(4) Remembering the promises they should 

trust God and not wizards. 8: 16-22. 
V. The nation's glorious future. 9: 1-7. 

The Political Background. — It is impossible to under- 
stand the history of Judah apart from the geographical 
position of the nations of Western Asia. Palestine lay 
between Egypt and Assyria. Samaria, the capital of the 
northern kingdom,, was on the great road of traffic and of 
armies. Jerusalem, the capital of Judah^ lay a little off 
this road and being surrounded by hills was less liable to 
attack by either nation. Assyria had a strong and aggres- 
sive enemy in Babylonia and Egypt a powerful but less 
wealthy one in Ethiopia. This fact often accounts for the 
speedy withdrawal of their armies from Palestine just in 



270 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

time to save it from complete conquest. The dynasty of 
Menahem was a product of Assyrian intervention and was 
therefore in sympathy with that power. But Pekah, in al- 
Hance with Rezin, an adventurer who had placed himself 
on the throne of Damascus, undertook to throw off the 
Assyrian yoke. Failing to coax Judah into the league 
they prepared to invade her and place a Syrian king on the 
throne. Little was attempted while the strong Jotham 
reigned, but when Ahaz came to the throne they pushed 
matters more vigorously. It is not strange that Israel 
and Judah should attempt to repel the advances of Assyria 
for. as we have said, conquest by Assyria now meant po- 
litical death. 

The League of Ahaz with Assyria. — No single move- 
ment on the part of Judah had ever been fraught with such 
momentous political significance as the appeal of Ahaz to 
Assyria. In his short-sightedness he failed to see how God 
could deliver him from this impending invasion. Isaiah 
urged him to trust the Lord and deliverance would sure- 
ly come. He proposed to strengthen the faith of Ahaz by 
any sign the king might ask. There can be no explana- 
tion of the refusal of Ahaz to ask a sign^ except that he 
had already determined his course and did not hold him- 
self open to conviction. The sign that God invited him 
to ask was a sign of deliverance. When he persistently 
refused to change his purpose God gave him a sign, but 
it was a sign of destruction. 

If it were not for the fact that the child which here be- 
comes a sign is called Immanuel, but little difficulty would 
attach to the interpretation of it. It matters little who the 
mother of the child was, or whether it was yet born, the 
event was to occur before the destruction of Israel. The 
passage therefore, cannot be primarily Messianic. Of 
course, much of this prophecy, although it had a special 



IN THE BIBLE. 27i 

present significance, becomes typical of the Christian dis- 
pensation in that the Hebrew nation was peculiarly reli- 
gious in its purpose and history. In this reference it 
would represent the Messiah as a suffering prince, suffer- 
ing for the faults of others and not his own. Isaiah has 
many such prophecies. 

The Outlook of Ahaz and of Isaiah. — The reason that 
Ahaz and Isaiah outlined different courses for Judali is to 
be found in the men. Ahaz could not see through the 
dust that Rezin and Pekah were raising. His horizon 
was so narrow that he failed to see that these nations had 
already spent their energy. He had absolutely no faith in 
the power of Jehovah to deliver him. He failed to under- 
stand that the divine hand was directing national affairs. 
Isaiah saw through the smoke of those dying national em- 
bers, and recognized the divine hand on the helm. The 
difference lay in the men's conception of God. Ahaz may 
have known the history of the nation as well as Isaiah did. 
He may have been thoroughly acquainted with the great 
deliverances of the nation from the Exodus to his own 
time. But knowledge of this kind always fails to calm the 
mind in the hour of peril and to enable one to choose the 
right with any degree of "certainty. What the heart has 
felt of God's nearness and goodness, rather than what the 
mind knows of his wisdom and power, is effectual to calm 
the mind to clarify the reason, and hence direct the judg- 
ment to right conclusions. Therefore, to know God in 
personal experience is the only safeguard we have when 
brought to face the mighty moving forces of nature or of 
nations if they are hostile to us. Deluded Ahaz could not 
see the wisdom of Isaiah's policy. 

Political Setting. — Ahaz avoided the war with Syria 
and Israel by his covenant with Assyria. In this invasion 
by Assyria Damascus fell and the Syrian monarchy disap- 



272 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

peared. Thus far the chronology of Isaiah's prophecies 
has been definitely fixed by the historical allusions in them. 
Some time must have intervened before the prophecy of 
the tenth chapter. In lo: 7-1 1 we have recorded the 
proud boast of the Assyrian to Judah, in which we have 
specific reference to the destruction of Samaria. The on- 
ly reasonable explanation of this is that some time must 
have elapsed between the prophecies of the ninth and tenth 
chapters. The twenty-eighth chapter is the only other sec- 
tion of the book that speaks of the northern kingdom as 
still existing, and for this reason we place it next in chron- 
ological order. 

Egypt was evidently one of Assyria's prime objective 
points. The great power of the Nile was not what it once 
had been ; but when Assyrian oppression began to be felt 
in Judah she was anxious to ally herself with any power 
that promised deliverance from heavy tribute and from po- 
litical death, whenever Assyria should feel herself free to 
invade Palestine. 

Shalmanezer IV. began to reign in J2y and reigned five 
years. He died before his campaign against Israel was 
■ended, and Sargon completed it. Sargon did not invade 
Egypt at this time, because Merodach-Baladin, king of 
Babylon, seized the opportunity afforded by the absence of 
the Assyrian army to strike for independence. Sargon left 
Palestine hastily, conquered the Babylonian army and es- 
tablished himself in the palace of Merodach-Baladin. At 
this time the dominion of Assyria extended from the Med- 
iterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf. Now since Syria was 
dead and Israel hopelessly crippled a reaction set in at Je- 
rusalem against Assyrian rule. The prophecies of Isaiah 
indicate that a strong party grew up in the capital of Ju- 
dah in favor of alliance with Egypt. Egypt was always 
ready to help her friends with fair promises which she sel- 



IN THE BIBLE. 273 

dom fulfilled; but she had never been made tributary to 
another nation and was of course considered one of the 
great world powers. The twenty-eighth chapter refers to 
this period. 

I. A warning of Judah from the sin and political 
standing of Israel. 28 : 1-6. 
II. Judah in the same moral degradation. 28: 7-8. 

III. They scornfully laugh at Isaiah's repeated warn- 

ings of judgment. 28 : 9-10. 

IV. Isaiah's retort. 

(i) God would speak to them by the strange 
tongue of the Assyrian. 28: 11. ' 

(2) Even the people whom he had promised 

rest. 28: 12. 

(3) The precept upon precept and line upon 

line of the Lord would henceforth be to 
them for judgment. 28: 13. 
V. Covenant with Death and Hell. 

(i) By lying and deceit they made a secret 
treaty with Egypt. 28: 14-15. 

(2) Those who trust the Lord do not make 

haste to seek foreign aid, because Je- 
hovah is to Jerusalem a sure foundation. 
28 : 16. 

(3) But God's judgment would be to the mark 

and would disannul their covenant with 
Death and Hell. 28: 17-22. 
VI. The method of God vindicated. 

(i) The farmer, having plowed, sows. 28: 
23-26. 

(2) The farmer treats each grain according to 
its nature, and God will punish Judah in 
a way best adapted to the divine pur- 
pose. 28 : 27-29. 



274 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

This casting about for heathdsn help on the part of Ju- 
dah indicates a deplorable lack of faith in the true God. 
He stood pledged to the security and prosperity of his peo- 
ple so long as they would trust him and live in accordance 
with their fundamental law. The low moral plane to which 
they had sunk made them but little disposed to seek safe- 
ty by a return to purity of worship and justice. There was 
only one way to reach the national conscience under those 
conditions; that was to preach the awful judgment as im- 
minent and at the same time present an avenue of escape. 
The "Remnant" always comes to the surface in Isaiah's 
preaching. There is always hope. 

CHAPTERS 10, II, 12. 

Historical Setting. — Damascus was destroyed by Tig- 
lath-pileser in 732. Samaria was besieged by Shalmanezer 
IV. who died during the campaign, Sargon succeeded him 
and destroyed Samaria in 722, carrying the people into cap- 
tivity, Sennacherib succeeded Sargon and invaded Phoe- 
nicia to subdue a revolt there. While engaged in this 
campaign Isaiah utters these prophecies against him. Sen- 
nacherib then marched south, defeated an Egyptian army 
and made Judah tributary. Hezekiah was reigning in Ju- 
dah. 

ANALYSIS. 

I. Assyria^ although God's chosen instrument to in- 
flict punishment^ did not act according to the 
divine will. 10: 5-1 1. 
II. She failed to recognize that she was an instru- 
ment 10: 12-15. 

III. Destruction was preparing for her. 10 : 16-19. 

IV. A remnant of Judah shall survive. 10 : 20-23. 

V. Therefore, they ought not to be disturbed on the 
approach of the enemy. 10 : 24-27. 



IN THE BIBLE. 275 

VI . The Assyrian army shall suddenly be destroyed. 
10:28-34. 

VII. A "sprout" of David shall arise to bring deliver- 
ance, righteousness and peace. 11:1-9. 
VIII. A glorious time for the "remnant." 11 : 10-16. 
IX. In that day the "remnant" shall sing this joyful 
song. 12: 1-6. 

Judah's False Conception of God. — 'Several years in- 
tervened between the prophecies of the twenty-eighth 
chapter and this section of the book. Samaria had fallen 
and Sargon had been very near Jerusalem. Although in 
danger of repetition yet we think it best to analyze a little 
more closely, the sentiment of the ruling party in Jeru- 
salem concerning Assyria and their own God. We have 
intimated that heart and head knowledge of God are com- 
plementary to each other. The Jews of Hezekiah's time did 
not have the heart knowledge and their intellectual appre- 
hension of Jehovah was very deficient. They thought of 
him only as a national deity. They did not seem to be 
at all sure that he was superior to the gods of nations about 
them when they saw the blasphemous Sargon tossing na- 
tions about as if they were mere playthings. Their ideas 
01 brute force had been enlarging ever since the Assyrian 
army had come into Western Asia. Isaiah could see the 
directing hand of God in it, but the nation could not. Their 
notion that God was a provincial deity, whose interest and 
influence were circumscribed by the limits of their own ter- 
ritory, narrowed their conception so much as to make it to- 
tally false. The only alternative to complete atheism was 
to recast their ideas of God in a larger mould. They must 
either deny his supremacy or recognize his hand in the in- 
vasion of Sargon. 

The same question presents itself to every thoughtful 
student of science to-day. There is a party in scientific 



276 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

circles, which happily is growing less every year, that 
would remove man entirely from God's fellowship and 
care and substitute a purposeless chance for a God-wrought 
system. 

When the student comes face to face with the great pro- 
blems of natural forces, the only alternative to accepting 
the conclusions of the atheistic party is to recast his ideas 
of God in a wider mould. When Ahaz made his treaty 
with Assyria^ the restrictions of thought, which Jewish ex- 
clusiveness had preserved, were removed and they saw the 
great world forces in a feverish restlessness induced by 
ambition. But they still thought of their God as a pro- 
vincial deity. When the student meets for the first time 
the problems of life, its origin and destiny, as interpreted 
in the light of natural forces, his mind leaps all barriers, 
and he sees nature grinding out an inexorable routine. 
But a divine hand and purpose appear when a fuller, truer 
view of God widens his horizon and adjusts his mental fo- 
cus. Without prophetic inspiration we can write Maher- 
Shalel-hashbaz over all international policy which makes a 
covenant with Death and Hell. However much the com- 
pact may seem to further the interest of the nation, yet op- 
pression, injustice and cruelty will not win in the end. 
Christian nations which practice it, or allow it, will some 
day feel the shock of divine judgment and know that "the 
Lord God omnipotent reigneth." 

Political Setting of the Remainder of the Book of 
Isaiah. — The compass of our work does not permit a 
study of the whole book of Isaiah. It is with an oppres- 
sive sense of incompleteness that we leave his prophecy 
and hurry on to other times and other men. We shall not 
attempt an outline of the remaining chapters, but only to 
give a brief and general abstract of events. 



IN THE BIBLE. 277 

When Sargon was slain Sennacherib, his second son, 
came to the throne. This was the signal for a general 
revolt of all tributary states. The world had never before 
witnessed such a general uprising. The task that con- 
fronted the young king was greater than any of his pre- 
decessors had been called to undertake. His first effort 
was to reconquer Babylon. This took him three years. 
While thus engaged Judah had peace. Allured by the fair 
promises of Egypt,, a strong party in Jerusalem continued 
to insist on alliance against Assyria. Isaiah was statesman 
enough to see that such a course was suicidal. Egypt was 
Assyria's objective point. If Judah remained true to As- 
syria or preserved a strict neutrality, she would serve as 
a strong outpost for Assyria. Armed alliance with Egypt 
would bring upon her the anger of Assyria and lead to her 
destruction. Isaiah saw all this and plead for neutrality. 
He began to prophesy when a young man, and his utter- 
ances were then colored with a great hope for the. nation. 
This hope waned as he saw Judah rapidly drifting into a 
policy that could not do otherwise than insure her speedy 
destruction. As his political hope grew dimmer^ his mind 
dwelt more and more on the future glory of the kingdom 
of the Messiah. He despaired of human righteousness 
and rose to the richest sense of spiritual religion. From 
the thirty-ninth chapter to the close of the book his view 
takes in Abraham and Christ. The history of the times, 
therefore, do not throw much light on his prophecies of 
this period; but, standing on the vantage ground of the 
Christian dispensation, the student can apprehend his 
great thoughts in their wideness and depth. He had first 
seen Christ as a Victor, then as a Judge, but now he saw 
him as a Man, who through suffering, becomes both Vic- 
tor and Judge. This clearer view and wider horizon will 
account for any change in style in the two parts of the 



278 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

book. It is not necessary to resort to the assumption of 
two Isaiahs living at different times. The subject, 
theme, the culture of the man and his wider outlook would 
mould his thought and shape his imagery. 

ISAIAH'S CONTEMPORARIES— MICAH. 

Before leaving this period we will notice briefly the pro- 
phets who were contemporaries of Isaiah. While Isaiah 
was prophesying in Jerusalem Micah was preaching to the 
country districts of Judah. The burden ^f his prophecy is 
much the same as that of Isaiah. 

ANALYSIS. 

I. Threat of punishment on Israel and Judah be- 
cause of their sins. i : 2.-"]. 
II. Lamentations, i : 8-10. 

III. Punishments and sins. 

(i) On those who oppress the poor. 2 : 1-5. 

(2) Hostility of false prophets. 2 : 6-7. 

(3) Oppression of the poor to be punished 

with captivity. 2 : 8-10. 

(4) The people want flattering prophets. 2: 11. 

(5) The remnant. 2: 12-13. 

(6) Savage behavior of the ruling class. 3 : 1-4. 

(7) Micah vindicated. 3 : 5-8. 

(8) Sins and punishment specified. 3 : 9-12. 

IV. The golden age. 4: 1-5. 
V. Prosperity. 4: 6-8. 

VI. Misery must precede prosperity. 4: 9-10. 
VII. Now Judah was afflicted; later she would be the 
afflictor. 4: 11-13. 
VIII. The promised ruler with world-wide rule. 5 :. 1-4. 
IX. Enemies overcome. 5 : 5-9. 
X. Reforms in Judah. 5: 10-15. 



IN THE BIBLE. 279 

XI. The way of deliverance presented. 

(i) Through the figure of a judicial trial the 
people are convicted of sin and told how 
to please God. 6: i-8. 

(2) They lacked necessary virtues. 6 : 9-12. 

(3) Therefore judgment. 6:13-16. 

(4) The true nation of God repentant. 7: 1-6. 

(5) Faith in God's promises of deliverance. 7 : 

7-13. 

(6) The people's prayer and God''s answer. 7: 

14-17. 

(7) Praise to the Lord. 7: 18-20. 

THE PROPHECY OF NAHUM. 

The exact date of the prophecy of Nahum is problem- 
atical. It must have been after the invasion of Judah by 
Sennacherib. The Theme of the book is the destruction 
of Nineveh. The voice of the messengers of Assyria are 
mentioned, which doubtless alludes to those boastful en- 
voys Sennacherib sent to terrify the inhabitants of Jerusa- 
lem. The idolatry of Manasseh is not mentioned, from 
which we infer that Nahum must have prophesied in the 
latter part of Hezekiah's reign. If so his prophecy relates 
to a period of comparative purity of worship. The book is 
really a prose-poem remarkable for purity of diction and 
deep insight into the character of God. It is on his con- 
ception of God's attributes that he bases the destruction of 
Nineveh. 

I. God's character. 

(i) Inflexible in justice, God will punish the 
wicked, i : 1-2. 

(2) His power, i : 3-6. 

(3) Merciful to his children, i : 7. 



280 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

II. God will destroy Nineveh for her wickedness, i : 

8-i4„ 

In 12. I3_, he gives a parenthetical assurance 

to Judah that God will bless her. 

III. A vivid description of the messenger coming over 

the mountains to tell Judah of the fall of 
Nineveh, i : 15. 

IV. A word picture of the capture of Nineveh. 2 : 1-13. 
. V. Reasons for the destruction of Nineveh. 3 : 1-7. 

VI. Strong fortifications will not save it. No (Amon, 
Thebes) was destroyed. 3: 8-10. 
VII. Nineveh ripe for judgment. 3 : 9-13. 
VIII. Preparation will not save them. 3 : 14-19. 

Reign of Manasseh. — Manasseh w^as twelve years old 
when he began to reign. The heathen party in Jerusalem 
seems to have had the education of the boy in charge, for 
he soon developed into a fanatical hater of Jehovah wor- 
shippers. He plunged into idol worship with a zeal not 
equalled in the history of Judah. His devotion to polythe- 
ism led him to call his son Amon in honor of an Egyptian 
deity. He worshipped the heavenly bodies and even sac- 
rificed his own children to Moloch. Not satisfied with the 
establishment of heathen worship in connection with the 
worship of Jehovah, he instituted a fierce persecution of all 
who clung to the religion of the Hebrews. He changed the 
temple service to the service of Pagan deities. Isaiah died 
during his reign. Tradition says he fell a victim to the 
mad frenzy of Manasseh. After a trials which was really 
a farce, he was condemned for heresy. Moses had said no 
man can see God's face and live. Isaiah said : "I saw the 
Lord." Attempting to escape his pursuers, Isaiah took 
refuge in a hollow tree ; the tree closed upon him, and his 
enemies sawed into the tree with a wooden saw until the 
blood flowed and Isaiah died. This is only tradition, but 



IN THE BIBLE. 281 

it receives some support from the account given in the 
Epistle to the Hebrews^ ii : 37. Amon succeeded Man- 
asseh. It is enough to say that his reign was the counter- 
part of his father's. The vitaHty of the nation had been 
wasted by the vicious practices of idolatry. He reigned 
two years and fell a victim to a court conspiracy, the mo- 
tive of which is not well known. 

Reign of Josiah. — We now come to one of those ex- 
ceedingly strange popular movements that sometimes 
sweep over a nation or community. Political or religious 
sentiment is very often found on one extreme or other. 
An extreme laxity in religious observance is often followed 
by an extreme severity; an extreme departure from a 
state policy is often followed by an extreme insistance on 
the same policy. When Amon was killed his murderers 
at once fell before the wrath of an outraged populace. They 
had tasted the fruit of oriental heathen administration and 
were now willing to return to the Mosaic order. There- 
fore Josiah, a boy of eight years of age, was proclaimed 
king by a popular vote. This is evidence that a change 
of sentiment was beginning in Jerusalem. Josiah''s reign 
was the Puritan age of Judah. His reforms were sweep- 
ing and bloody. During his reign the Scythians invad- 
ed Palestine, the first recorded movement of those north- 
ern tribes which the Revelation speaks of as Gog and Ma- 
gog. They were fierce and warlike and overran the coun- 
try to the borders of Egypt. It is supposed that Josiah 
wrote the fifty-ninth Psalm to commemorate their appear- 
ance before Jerusalem. 

But the most important event of this period is the alli- 
ance of Judah with Assyria and the defeat of the army of 
Judah by the Egyptians. The Babylonian power was ris- 
ing rapidly and was taxing the energies of Assyria. Egypt, 
always on the alert to strike Assyria a blow, improved the 



282 PROGRESSIVE STTJDIES 

Opportunity by throwing her army into Assyrian territory. 
Josiah attempted to intercept him. His army was totally 
defeated and he himself slain. Nothing could have been 
more foolish on the part of Josiah. Palestine was not the 
objective point of the Egyptian army and Necho seems to 
have had no designs on Judah. The death of Josiah was a 
blow to the nation. He had carried his reforms to the ex- 
tent of persecution of the heathen party. It had not been 
long enough to mould public sentiment to conform to the 
Mosaic code. It was therefore only superficial in effect 
although it had been prosecuted honestly and earnestly. 
The violence of the heathen party in the time of Manas- 
seh and the severity of Josiah's reform had irretrievably 
alienated the two parties in Jerusalem. Even the prospect 
of speedy ruin could not unite them at this time against a 
common foe. 

But the moral sense of Judah was not lost during those 
times of defection from the true worship. Nor did it err 
very widely in its estimate of kings. Rehoboam, Abijah, 
Asa^ Jehosaphat, Amaziah, Uzziah, Jotham, Hezekiah 
and Josiah were buried in the sepulchre of the kings, ex- 
cept Uzziah, who on account of his leprosy was buried "in 
the field of the burial which belonged to the kings, for he 
was a leper." Joram^ Joash, Ahaz, Manasseh and Amon 
were not buried in the sepulchre of the kings. These 
kings were popular with a strong heathen party in the city 
but the sense of the nation was against their wickedness. 
It is another illustration of the fact that a noisy, self-seek- 
ing, self-advertising minority may control the politics of a 
city or a nation only until the public conscience is aroused 
by some crisis. 

The Reign of Jehoiakim. — On the death of Josiah the 
heathen party summoned all their energy to bring about 
a reaction against Jehovah worship. It succeeded, gained 



IN THE BIBLE. 283 

the ascendency and held it till the fall of Jerusalem. The 
corruption of worship and foolish foreign policy followed 
by the nation are the background of some of the prophecies 
of Jeremiah. Shallum, Josiah^s second son, was placed on 
the throne. He assumed the name "Jehoahaz'^ or "he 
whom the Lord sustains." When Necho, who with his 
army was in Assyrian territory, heard what Judah had done, 
he sent a detachment of his army to complete the subjuga- 
tion of Jerusalem. Jehoahaz soon yielded and was car- 
ried captive into Egypt from which he never returned. Jer. 
22 : 10-12. Eliakim his elder brother seems to have been 
willing to receive the crown as a vassal to Egypt^ for Ne- 
cho placed him on the throne. He took the name "Je- 
hoiakim" or "he whom Jehovah has set up." He was a very 
foolish king. He oppressed his subjects, even using force 
to secure the tribute money he was obliged to pay and to 
build and decorate palaces for himself. The kingdom was 
nodding to the fall. It was practically dead. Idolatry was 
rampant and corruption in morals shocking. Jeremiah and 
his followers were the real life of the nation. The little 
band of true worshippers must have retained considerable 
influence else the fierce denunciations of wickedness in 
high places would have led to the speedy death of Jere- 
miah who was at this time the most cordially hated man 
in all Judah. 

The Prophecy of Zephaniah. — Zephaniah means "The 
Watchman of Jehovah." He prophesied in the time of 
Josiah and probably before the reforms instituted by him. 
Successful and good as the reign of Josiah waS' it occupies 
a very small place in the prophetic writings. During his 
reign the Scythians invaded Western Asia. It is the first 
recorded movement of the northern barbarians into the ci- 
vilized countries of the world. Since then those northern 
tribes have occupied a prominent place in history. The 



284 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

world has seen civilization cross the Alps and the Himal- 
ayas and has felt the impulse of Saxon and Slavic energy. 
In Josiah^s time a band of the Scythians swept down the 
shore of the Great Sea to the border of Egypt, and Psam- 
metichus bought them off and they returned home. Eze- 
kiel calls them Rosh or Russia, the only mention made of 
any modern European nation in the Bible. Ezek. 38 : 2, 3 ; 

39:1- 

Zephaniah saw deeply into the secret motives of men, 
and had the ability to portray these motives in vivid terms. 
He does not discuss sin in the abstract but specifies it with 
remarkable accuracy. No prophet had a more compre- 
hensive view of the divine administration of the world. The 
awful day of God's wrath would come upon the nation in 
the near future, justified by her degradation and sin. The 
main thought is the Lord's anger and yet he is mighty to 
save. 3 : 17. 

I. Judgment and threatenings. Chapter i. 
n. Call to Repentance. 2 : i — 3 : 8. 
IH. Blessings of the Messianic reign. 3 : 9-20. 

The Prophecy of Habakkuk. — The exact time of this 
prophecy is uncertain. It was written before the invasion 
of Nebuchadnezzar's army (i : 6) but not before the Chal- 
dees became a source of danger to Judah. We would 
place the prophecy in the closing years of Josiah's reign. 
The book itself is unique. It seems to be the exercises 
of a righteous soul, keenly alive to the wickedness of the 
nation, and its impending destruction, more than an ef- 
fort to purify the religion and politics of Jerusalem. The 
prophet speaks out of the fullness of his heart and God 
answers him. 

I. The prophet speaks, i : 2-4.. 
II. God answers him. i: 5-11. 
HI. The prophet speaks, i : 12 — 2 : i. 



IN THE BIBLE. 285 

IV. God's answer. 2 : 2-20. 
V. A prayer song. 3 : 1-19. 

The Fall of Nineveh. — But we must look for a little 
at the political situation of the other nations of Western 
Asia during this period. When Sennacherib was murder- 
ed by his sons, Esserhaddon seized the throne. As usual 
his vassals revolted. A son of Merodach-Baladin pro- 
claimed his independence, but was soon subdued. Esser- 
hadon then improved Babylon until she rivaled Nineveh,, 
the capital of the great king. But the Median and Baby- 
lonian armies made a joint attack on Assyria which was 
now feeling the effect of gradual decay. Rawlinson says, 
"To meet this double danger, Saracus, the Assyrian king, 
determined on dividing his forces ; and, while he entrusted 
a portion of them to a general, Nabopolassar, who had or- 
ders to proceed to Babylon and engage the enemy ad- 
vancing from the sea, he himself with the remainder, made 
ready to receive the Medes. This was probably a judi- 
cious disposition of the troops at his disposal ; it was polit- 
ic to prevent a junction of the two assailing powers, and 
as the greatest danger was that which threatened from the 
Medes, it was well for the king himself with the bulk of his 
forces to meet this enemy. But the most prudent ar- 
rangements may be disconcerted by the treachery of those 
who are entrusted with their execution ; and so it was in 
the present instance. The faithless Nabopolassar saw in 
his sovereign's difficulty his own opportunity; and, instead 
of marching against Assyrians enemies, as his duty re- 
quired him, he secretly negotiated an arrangement with 
Cyaxares, agreed to become his ally against the Assyri- 
ans, and obtained the Median king's daughter as a bride 
for his eldest son, Nebuchadnezzar. Cyaxares and Nabo- 
polassar then joined their efforts against Nineveh ; and Sa- 
racus, unable to resist them, took counsel of his despair, 



286 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

and, after all means of resistance were exhausted burned 
himself in his palace." 

Nineveh was founded by Nimrod, a descendant of Ham. 
Balaam speaks of Assun but Nineveh is first mentioned as 
a great city by Jonah. In other than biblical records may 
be read the long story of its rivalry with Babylon for the 
supremacy of the world. Frazier says of it ; "Xenophon, 
passing over the plain two hundred years after the cap- 
ture of the city, conducting the famous retreat of the 10,000 
Greeks, saw ruins^ but knew not what they were, and did 
not so much as learn the name of Nineveh. Alexander the 
Great about seventy years afterwards, fought a successful 
battle in its vicinity; yet the historians who describe these 
campaigns have nothing to say of Nineveh, excepting one 
rather uncertain allusion. So also the only notice of it 
that occurs among the Latin authors is a brief mention by 
Tacitus, who calls Nineveh the oldest city of Assyria. 
Otherwise it fell into utter oblivion till the French Consul 
Botta^ and our accomplished countrymen, Layard and 
Rawlinson, excavated the great heaps of rubbishy which 
looked like natural heights or little hills, and brought to 
light, as every one knows, abundant and most interesting 
and instructive remains of the palaces and state buildings 
of the old Assyrian rulers of the world. Of the magnifi- 
cence of those ancient despots we gain an idea from the 
palace of Shennacherib^ which has been discovered, and is 
known to have extended over about one hundred acres. 
The entrance both to the buildings and principal halls with- 
in it, were flanked by groups of winged human-headed li- 
ons and bulls of colassal size, some almost twenty feet in 
height." 

After the fall of Nineveh the Assyrian territory was di- 
vided between the Babylonians and the Medes. Nabo- 
polassar at once invaded the Egyptians at Carchemish ; 



IN THE BIBLE. 287 

Necho was defeated and returned to Egypt. This was a 
most important battle to Judah, for it brought her again 
to the border ground of strong and hostile powers; it also 
changed her vassalage from Egypt to Babylon, the nation 
destined to be the place of her captivity. The aged Na- 
bopolassar placed Nebuchadnezzar, a strong young prince, 
at the head of the army. We can only conjecture what 
would have been the fate of Jehoiakim just then had not 
the death of Nabopolassar called the Assyrian army home. 
In one year he returned. Egypt exerted her utmost pow- 
er to persuade Judah to resist the Babylonian army and 
Jeremiah was strenuously urging a willing submission in 
the hope that this move would prevent their deportation 
to foreign lands. He sent the roll to Jehoiakim, which he 
cut with his knife and burned. But as Nebuchadnezzar 
approached Jerusalem^ a strong court party urged the same 
policy that Jeremiah advised ; the king consented, and Ju- 
dah became tributary to Babylon Three years afterward 
he joined Egypt in a revolt against Babylon. He was con- 
quered and a heavier tribute imposed upon him. At his 
death Judah did not mourn for him, and_Jehoiachin» his 
son, became king, 

THE PROPHECY OF JEREMIAH. 

The Prophet. — We have reviewed briefly the history 
of the times of Jeremiah, and before taking up his work it 
will be well to notice some of his personal characteristics 
in so far as they modified his prophecy. He is sometimes 
called "the weeping prophet." His sadness^ however, did 
not grow out of a constitutional melancholy nor a pessi- 
mistic view of his nation. Many of his utterances are 
grandly sublime, rivaling those of Isaiah,, while his songs 
place him next to David, "the sweet singer of Israel,^'' in 
poetic genius. He was intensely patriotic, but patriotism 
could not gloss over the flagrant wickedness of his nation. 



288 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

Isaiah saw the inevitable doom of the nation some time in 
the future, but the silver lining of the black cloud fringed 
its edge with brightest hope. The revelations of the fu- 
ture to the prophets we do not think often located the 
time when the events would occur. They were more like 
a picture on plane surface where the shadows have been 
rubbed out until the proper perspective is secured. The 
calamity that Isaiah saw was in the dim future. Jeremiah 
saw his nation already in the agony of death. Denounced 
as a traitor, his life in danger, discouraged and heartsick 
from lack of sympathy, it is not surprising that he regretted 
that he had been born. He Hved in the most troublous 
times of all Hebrew history. He saw the nation fall and 
finally died in Egypt unwept by his own nation. 

The Book. — There does not seem to be any chronolo- 
gical order in the Prophecy of Jeremiah. The style is 
diffuse* and its sad strain detracts somewhat from the in- 
terest of the general reader. But when studied in the light 
of the times of the prophet, when the passages of graphic 
narrative are noticed, profound admiration and reverence 
are excited in the thoughtful student. 

I. Prophecies and history previous to the de- 
struction of Jerusalem. Chapters 1-38: 4.5. 
II. Prophecies and narrative after the fall of Je-. 
rusalem. Chapters 39-44. 

III. Prophecies against the Gentiles. Chapters 
46-51. 

IV. Historical appendix added by some friend^ 
probably Baruch. Chapter 52. 

The first section covers four periods : i : The reign of 
Josiah. 2. Reign of Jehoiakim. 3. Reign of Jehoia- 
chin. 4. Prophecies delivered during the reign of Zede- 
kiah. 



IN THE BIBLE. 289 

ANALYSIS OF FIRST GROUP. 

I. Introduction, i : 1-3. 
U. The prophet's call. 

(i) Preparation and commission, i : 4 12. 

(2) The Scythian invasion, God's judgment. 

ment. i : 13-16. 

(3) Encouragement, i : 17-19. 

III. Judah called upon to relinquish human alli- 

ances. 2 : I — 4 : 2. 

IV. Judgment approaching from the north. 

(i) There should be a genuine repentance, 

4: 3-4- 
(2) Since there is not, the Scythians shall 
overrun the country. 4: 5 — 6: 30. 
V. Prophecies given after it was manifest that 
the reforms induced by the finding of the 
Law were superficial, 
(i) Preaching in the interest of the Book of 

Law. II : 1-8. 
(2) Conspiracy against Jeremiah. 11: 9-23. 

PROPHECIES DURING THE REIGN OF JEHOIAKIM. 

I. Jeremiah at the temple. 26: 1-7. 
11. Arrested, tried and acquitted. 26 : 8-19. 

III. Uriah killed for preaching the same message. 

26: 20-24. 

IV. A call to spiritual worship. 7: 1-20. 

V. Obedience is better than sacrifice. 7: 21-27. 
VI. A nation must be punished for her sins. 7: 
28-34. 
VII. The punishment described. 8 : 1-3. 
VIII. Because Judah persists in her backsliding, 
she must be punished. 8 : 4-17. 
IX. The prophet's lament because of the sins of 
his people. 8 : 18 — 9 : 9. 



290 



PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 



X. The judgment comes because they have for- 
saken the Law. 9: 10-22. 
XL The knowledge of God and His judgments 
is the principal thing. 9 : 23-26. 
XIL The folly of idolatry. 10: 1-16. 
XIIL Advice to flee the coming woe. 10: 17-18. 
XIV. A lament. 10: 19-22. 
XV. The prophet's prayer for just judgment. 10: 

23-25- 
XVI. The royal line counseled to righteousness. 
21 : 11-14. 
XVII. Exhortation. 22\ 1-9. 
XVIII. Jehoahaz shall die in Egyptian captivity. 22 : 
10-12. 
XIX. Jehoiakim denounced and his end predicted. 
22: 13-19. 
XX. A great drought. 14 : 1-6. 
XXI. Jeremiah^s prayer for its removal and God's 
answer. 14: 7-12. 
XXII. Second and third prayers and God's answer — 
the nation must be punished. 14: 13 — 

15:9. 

XXIII. Fourth and fifth prayers for mercy. 15 : 10-21. 

XXIV. Jeremiah forbidden to marry to emphasize 

his prophecy. 16: 1-13. 
XXV. Captivity. 16: 14-18. 
XXVI. In Captivity Judah will learn to forsake idols. 
16: 19-21. 
XXVII. Sins indelible, hence severe judgment. 17: 1-4. 
XXVIII. Faith in God, not in man, the true security. 
17:5-18. 
XXIX. Sabbath profanation condemned. 17: 19-27. 
XXX. Against false prophets and their prophecies. 
23 : 9-40. 



IN THE BIBLE. 291 

XXXI. Prophecies concerning Nebuchadnezzar and 
the nations. Nineveh has just fallen. 
The battle of Carchemish about to be 
fought. Nebuchadnezzar, the man of 
destiny. Chapters 25^ 46-49. 
(i) Nebuchadnezzar introduced. 25 : 1-2. 

(2) Judah shall be in captivity to Baby- 

lon for seventy years. 25 : 3-14. 

(3) A summary of judgment. 25 : 15-26. 

(4) The coming judgment declared. 25 ; 

27-38. 

(5) Prophecies against other nations. Chap- 

ters 47-49. 
XXXII. Jeremiah's open break with the royal house, 
(i) The potter^s vessel and its meaning. 18 r 

(2) Jeremiah asks for retribution on his ene- 

mies. 18: 18-23. 

(3) The broken bottle and its meaning. 19: 

(4) Pashur's rashness and Jeremiah's reply. 

19 : 14 — 20 : 6. 

(5) Jeremiah's soul experiences. 20 : 7-18. 

(6) The obedience of the Rechabites con- 

demns the Jews. 35 : 1-19. 

(7) The history of the roll. 36: 1-32. 

(8) A message to Baruch. 45 : 1-5. 
Reigns of Jehoiachin and Zedekiah. — 'Shortly after Je- 

hoiachin came to the throne Judah, along with other states, 
revolted against Babylon. The revolt was incited by 
Egypt, who was unwilling to lose her grasp on Asia. Ne- 
buchadnezzar at once came with his army. While reduc- 
ing some other states he sent a strong detachment against 
Jerusalem. Cut off from all help, and in the hope that the 



292 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

sacrifice of themselves would save the nation, the royal 
family passed out of one of the gates in mournful proces- 
sion and sat down in front of the enemy. But Judah had 
sinned too deeply against Nebuchadnezzar to expect that 
such nobility on the part of the king would save the city. 
The royal family and nobility were deported along with 
7poo fighting men and artisans and others to the number 
of 10,000. Jehoiachin was thirty-six years in captivity. Af- 
ter the death of Nebuchadnezzar Evil-Marodach restored 
him to a moderate luxury in Babylon. 2 Kings 25 : 27-30. 
But Judah had wonderful power to recover from these se- 
vere blows. The influential men had been sent to Baby- 
lon, but, under Zedekiah, the nation soon became prosper- 
ous and wealthy. Mattaniah, another son of Josiah and 
brother of Jehoiachin, was placed on the throne. He as- 
sumed the name of Zedekiah. For a time the king fol- 
lowed the policy of Jeremiah. He sent an embassy to Ba- 
bylon, and afterward accompanied a third himself^ at which 
time he took a solemn oath of allegiance to Nebuchadnez- 
zar. Jeremiah took occasion to send a letter to the exiles 
in Babylon to urg-e them to be quiet. He prophesied the 
destruction of Babylon with the intent to make them pa- 
tient. When the roll was read it was to be sunk in the 
Euphrates. This precaution on the part of Jeremiah was 
well timed, for a general spirit of revolt was beginning to 
show itself among the captives there, in which the Jews 
were disposed to participate. Judah was growing strong 
again, and the same clamor was rising in Jerusalem. Moab, 
Edom and other states were anxious to join the move- 
ment. Jeremiah again comes to the front in a bold oppo- 
sition to such movement. Hananiah^ the leader of the 
band of false prophets, openly opposed Jeremiah. He 
seemed to triumph, but his death in a short time, accord- 
ing to the word of Jeremiah, checked the tide. Jeremiah 



IN THE BIBLE. 293 

sent another letter to the exiles^ urging them to be quiet, 
and to save themselves and the nation by a hearty co-op- 
eration in whatever would further the interests of Baby- 
lon. This called forth a fierce reply from Shemaiah, a false 
prophet of Babylon. Ezekiel was seconding the efforts of 
Jeremiah among the captives. The revolt spirit, however^ 
grew in Jerusalem until Judah became the leader in the al- 
liance of powers against Babylon. The success of this 
party brought dark days to Jeremiah. The king was 
friendly to him, but had not strength to oppose the domi- 
nant party. Jeremiah was cast into prison; then into a 
deep well in which there was little water. The king man- 
aged to secure several secret interviews with him, but they 
had little of encouragement or comfort for the king. After 
a fierce struggle the great engines of Asiatic warfare pre- 
vailed, and the Babylonian army took possession of the 
city and destroyed it to the very foundations. The He- 
brew race was once more in captivity. Never again was 
the nation to occupy the place in the political world she 
once had held. But the Promised Land was still there. 
The Jew never lost interest in it. Around the Holy City^ 
afterwards rebuilt, were yet to be planted the seeds of the 
spiritual kingdom of the Messiah, and just without its walls 
was yet to be enacted a scene towards which all the pre- 
vious history of God's chosen people points. 

PROPHECIES DURING THE REIGN OF ZEDEKIAH. 

I. First years of his reign. 

(i) Judah is advised to submit to the yoke of 
Babylon. 2J. 

(2) The false prophet unmasked and more se- 

vere subjection to Babylon foretold. 28. 

(3) Letters to the Babylonian captives advis- 

ing them to wait quietly the time of 
restoration. 29. 



294 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

(4) The captives with Jehoiachin contrasted 

with those left in Jerusalem. 24. 

(5) Prophecies against Babylon. 50-51. 

11. Prophecies during last two years of Zedekiah's 
reign, 
(i) Zedekiah's first appeal to Jeremiah for the 
Lord's blessing on his revolt. 22 : i-io. 

(2) Judgment against unwise rulers who re- 

commended rebellion against Babylon. 
23 : 1-4. 

(3) A true Zedekiah promised after the judg- 

ment. 23 : 5-8. 

(4) Zedekiah's second appeal to Jeremiah. 37 : 

i-io. 
: (5) Jeremiah arrested, imprisoned and releas- 

ed. 37: 11-21. 

(6) The king permits the princes to cast Jere- 

miah into a dungeon. 38 : 1-6. 

(7) Ebed-Melech with the king's consent 

draws Jeremiah out of the pit. 38: 7-13. 

(8) Zedekiah^s third appeal to Jeremiah. 38: 

14-28. 

(9) Jeremiah's last words to Zedekiah. 34: 

1-7. 
(10) Captivity announced. 34 : 8-22. 

III. Prophecies during the siege. 

(i) Triumphant hymn. 30: 31. 

(2) Jeremiah purchases a field in the faith that 

after the captivity fields will be bought 
and sold. 32. 

(3) A specific promise of restoration and fu- 

' true greatness under a second David. 33. 

Jeremiah After the Fall of Jerusalem. — The reputation 
of Jeremiah had penetrated to the capital of Babylonia. It 



IN THE BIBLE. 295 

was known there that he was an untiring oponent of Jew- 
ish alHance and revolt; hence when Nebuzaradan, the 
king's captain, entered Jerusalem his first care was to se- 
cure Jeremiah and to treat him with kindness and consider- 
ation. He was given his choice either to remain in Pales- 
tine or a position of honor at the court of Nebuchadnez- 
zar. He chose to remain in Palestine. Gedaliah was 
made governor of the province with his capital at Mizpah. 
This was a fortress built by Asa overlooking Jerusalem 
from the northeast. Asa had dug a deep well here for wa- 
ter supply and enclosed it with a strong wall. 

It was here in full view of the desolate city of his nation» 
that he wrote the Lamentations, a finished Hebrew poem, 
rich in subtle imagery and deepest pathos. Gedaliah was 
an honest, good-hearted man and made his colony a refuge 
for all who had escaped the captivity. Several East-Jor- 
danic chiefs joined his colony, among whom were Ishmael, 
John and Jonathan. Ishmael became jealous of Gedaliah 
and planned to assassinate him. John and Jonathan, hear- 
ing of it^ warned Gedaliah, who refused to credit the report 
and continued to treat Ishmael with utmost respect. Ish- 
mael seized the opportunity when John and Jonathan were 
absent, killed Gedaliah and seized the government. He en- 
trapped eighty pilgrims in the court around Asa's well, 
where he slew them and threw their bodies into the well. 
The remaining friends of Gedaliah fled to Egypt, taking 
Jeremiah with them, although he protested against it. Tra- 
dition says he was stoned to death in Egypt by exile Jews 
because he continued to prophesy against their evil and 
idolatrous practices. However this may be_, there is no 
character in Hebrew history around which the genius of 
the nation has woven a fuller, richer web of tradition. But 
posthumous fame can not make up for the life of suffer- 
ing imposed on Jeremiah by the Jews. 



296 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

PROPHECIES DELIVERED AFTER THE FALL OF JERUSALEM. 

I. Jerusalem captured. Zedekiah carried captive, Je- 
remiah treated well. 39 : 1-14. 
II. Jeremiah chooses to remain in Palestine. 40: 
1-12. 

III. The successful conspiracy agaist Gedaliah. 40: 

13—41 : 10. 

IV. The conspirators overcome by Jonathan. 41 : 

11-18. 
V. Against the advice of Jeremiah, he and all the 
Jews are taken to Egypt. 42 : i — ^43 : 7. 
VI. The prophecy of the fall of Egypt. 43 : 8-44. 
Vir Jeremiah's last testimony against the idolatry of 
the Jews in Egypt. 44. 
VIII. Historical appendix. 52. 



IN THE BIBLE. 297 



XIV. 

THE PERIOD OF THE EXILE. 



Babylonia. — Babylonia was the second nation of the 
world at the time of Nebuchadnezzar. It was great in 
power, splendor^ science, art and commerce. Babylonia 
was bounded by Persia on the east, Media and her depend- 
encies on the north,, Arabia on the south and Egypt on the 
extreme south-west. Her territory included Palestine ex- 
tending to the Mediterranean sea on the west. Persia was 
a sterile country not capable of supporting a vast popula- 
tion and was cut ofif from Babylonia by natural barriers 
which made the defense of a few passes all that was neces- 
sary to keep out a Persian army. She was unprotected by 
any natural barriers from Media on the norths but political 
arrangements and family ties made Media more of an ally 
than an enemy. The sparse Arabian population on the 
south never could be a formidable enemy. Egypt was the 
only nation from which any danger might be apprehended. 
Apart from these considerations. Babylonia occupied a very 
critical position among the nations, for any two combin- 
ing could easily have conquered her, and Media alone 
would have been a very formidable enemy. The policy of 
colonization^ which the later Assyrian kings had followed, 
made the Babylonians an extremely mixed race. The 
Semitic element, however, gave character to their nation 
and enterprise. This does not necessarily imply that this 
fashioning Assyrian element was largely in the preponder- 
ance. Indeed, sometimes the element that gives direction 



298 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

to national energy is small in comparison with others, but 
it must have innate energy. They were an intellectual 
people and had inherited the old Chaldean sciences of As- 
tronomy and Arithmetic. They were an adventurous peo- 
ple filled with the spirit of enterprise and willing to engage 
in maritime commerce. Withal, they were a very sensu- 
ous people, willing to spend much time and wealth to se- 
cure elegance and luxury. Like other Asiatics they were 
proud and boastful. Nebuchadnezzar is an index to the 
general spirit ; when surveying Babylon he said : 'Ts this 
not Great Babylon which I have built by the might of my 
power and for the honor of my majesty?" Nebuchadnez- 
zar seems to have had a mania for building fine palaces, 
great gardens, and strong fortifications. He had married a 
daughter of the king of Media when his father Nabopolas- 
sar had united his army with the Median forces in the at- 
tack on Nineveh. His wife was a woman of tact and pow- 
er and for her gratification he constructed the famous 
hanging gardens. The Book of Daniel represents him as a 
haughty, strong eastern despot but not devoid of a sense 
of justice and generosity. From his decrees and language 
it is fair to infer that during his last years he had a pro- 
found reverence for the God of the Hebrews and was, in all 
probability, a devout worshipper of Jehovah. 

The Hebrew Captives. — The seventy years' exile of Ju- 
dah was a punishment for her sins. This appears very 
clearly in the divine narrative. God made the punishment 
conducive to their highest spiritual culture. The result 
is apparent in the history of the nation after their return 
from captivity. The method that God now introduced in 
the education of his chosen people was a severe one, but ef- 
fectual. Its point and purpose can be brought out most 
clearly in a study of the process. 



IN THE BIBLE. 299 

1. The Social Position of the Jews in Babylon. — Very lit- 
tle is said of the social standing of the captives in Babylon, 
but enough is given to enable us to form some conception 
of it. Not more than forty thousand went into captivity 
and forty-two thousand returned. These do not include 
the whole Jewish population in Babylonia, as many prefer- 
red to remain in that country. Not only did they increase 
in numbers, but they maintained their national existence 
in considerable integrity. They owned property and had 
large poHtical influence. 

The first deportation comprised the better class of the 
nation. Their offense was not considered grievous 
enough to merit severe punishment, and they were not 
scattered widely, but placed where they could be of the 
most advantage to the king in his public works in Babylon. 
They enjoyed independence. They were so much a unit 
and so strong that the enemies of Babylon sought to en- 
gage them in a rebellion against her Had it not been for 
the efforts of Jeremiah, seconded by Ezekiel in Babylonia, 
they might have been induced to join a revolt, which sure- 
ly would have lost to them all hope of ever again becoming 
an independent nation. The second deportation was not 
so well treated. They became the property of their masters 
and were bought and sold. This may have been because 
they lost the kindly offices of Nebuchadnezzar by their 
fickleness and treacherous revolt. It is from them that we 
hear the bitter cry against the cruelty of their captors. 

2. Hebrew Literature of This Period. — These seventy 
years were the literary period of the Jewish nation. The 
prophecies of Daniel and Ezekiel and the Lamentations of 
Jeremiah are more elaborate and finished than former pro- 
phecies. Prophets now began to write their deliverances 
instead of first giving them orally, and afterwards commit- 
ting them to writing. The short vivid utterances of Amos 



300 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

and Hosea cease to be heard, and in their stead we have 
poem or narrative prepared in leisure. It was during this 
period that former writings were arranged into a national 
literature. 

3. Religion During the Captivity. — -But by far the 
most important influence of the captivity was its effect on 
their religion. It is evident that the priests kept up as 
best they could the old forms of worship. There was no 
temple, but the institution of the synagogue took its place. 
Four annual fasts were instituted to commemorate the last 
sad days of Jerusalem. 

1. The day of the beginning of Nebuchadnezzar's siege 
in the tenth month. 

2. The day of the capture in the fourth month. 

3. The day of the destruction in the fifth month. 

4. The day of Gedaliah's murder in the tenth month. 

The destruction of the nation as a world-power did not 
destroy the national life. It simply threw it into chaos. 
The Spirit of God moved over the face of the abyss and out 
of the ruins of material splendor and power rose a spiritual 
nation. Out of dead formalism rose a spiritual worship. 
During the years of the kingdom their constant watchful- 
ness to preserve a national identity and to enlarge their 
borders had subordinated the religious side of their consti- 
tution to the national. In this they were failing to compass 
the real object of their existence. It was as a national 
society they went into exile ; their Babylonian captivity 
evolved a church. The line of kings passed into the offi- 
cers of the church. Never again did they enjoy real na- 
tional independence. 

This brings us to consider more in detail God's purpose 
in the seventy years of banishment from the promised land. 
Our standing point is the educative influence of God's 
providences. God brought them out of Egyptian bondage 



IN THE BIBLE. 301 

that he might make the nation the conservator of a pure 
spiritual worship. But their material glory was thwart- 
ing this spiritual purpose. Their views of God were very 
narrow. They failed to rise to a conception of him as ruler 
of all nations. The prophets had time and again tried to 
inculcate this principle, but they shut their eyes and closed 
their ears to it; and all the time the roots of idolatry were 
sinking deeper and deeper into their national life. 

Their temple worship had changed the religious unit 
from the individual to the nation. This was a grievous 
misconception of the divine economy. In God's eye the 
individual is always paramount to the state. The Jewish 
code, as all national codes ought to be^ was in point and 
purpose to minister to individual development. Jeremiah 
understood the principle and stood firmly for it, when the 
whole nation was on the other side. It gave him strength 
to endure unflinchingly his solitary confinement. Ezekiel 
saw it and in the thirty-third chapter of his prophecy in- 
sists strongly on individual responsibility. He held that 
every man may have immediate communication with the 
Spirit. The temple service did not, either before or after 
the return, foster the development of individuality before 
God. The truth was made more prominent during the ex- 
ile. Christ reiterated it, and in recent years it has been 
revived in the proper exaltation of the work of the Holy 
Spirit. But is was impossible that this idea should take 
deep hold on the Jewish conscience so long as the temple 
stood in its grandeur and the formality of the national 
service dazzled the eye. Therefore, it was important that 
the temple be destroyed. It had done much for the na- 
tion as a religious and national center, but as long as its 
routine of legal sacrifices continued the worshipper could 
not understand that a "broken and. contrite heart" is the 
most pleasing sacrifice to God. 



302 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

But the Jews learned more about their religion while 
in exile than during any other seventy years since the 
time of Moses. They were placed in circumstances where 
they were obliged to subject it to the principles of com- 
mon reason. This is in exact accord with God's method. 
It appears in a review of the epoch-marking events of He- 
brew history. The Flood, the Call of Abraham, the Ex- 
odus, the Establishment of the Prophetic Order,, are all 
transition periods when God changed his method of in- 
struction to suit a more advanced culture of the reasoning 
power. They all brought to the Jewish mind a wider field 
of data^ and thereby challenged the exercise of human rea- 
son. The teaching of Christ is still more advanced, and 
yet it is comparatively concrete when compared with the 
elaborate logical system of the Apostle Paul. Another 
influence along this line was, that they were called to as- 
sociate on a parity with idol worshippers, under circum- 
stances that rendered religion not a national rallying cry, 
but a matter for individual thought and investigation. 
They would get deeper into the underlying principles of 
Jehovah worship than ever before as they compared it in 
depth and width and height with the religion of their fel- 
low captors who labored with them. 

Although the captives were not suffering a hard bond- 
age, yet their grief was poignant. We catch the sad re- 
frain in the Psalms of the captivity. This grief cannot be 
attributed entirely to a sense of personal loss, although 
this was certainly present. We think it rose more from 
a newly kindled zeal for their God and their worship. "By 
the rivers of Babylon there we sat down; yea, we wept, 
when we remembered Zion. We hanged our harps upon 
the willows in the midst thereof. For there they that car- 
ried us away captive required of us a song; and they that 
wasted us required of us mirth, saying sing us one of the 



IN THE BIBLE. 303 

songs of Zion. How shall we sing the Lord's song in a 
strange land? If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right 
hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember thee, let 
my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth ; if I prefer not 
Jerusalem above my chief joy." Ps. 137. A newly kind- 
led zeal would augment the feeling of individual loss which 
in turn would nourish the consciousness of personality be- 
fore God rather than nationality. This reflex influence 
broke the idol fascination of the nation. Some fancy they 
see an inherent instinct for monotheism in the Semitic 
race. There is nothing in their history previous to this 
time to indicate it. But after the captivity formal idola- 
try was unknown among the Jews. Their ideal religion 
became not that of David's time, not that of the time of 
their highest prosperity, but that of their remote ancestor, 
Abraham. The loss of the temple, the loss of the cere- 
mony of their religion, under a quickened conscience fost- 
ered heavenward aspirations. The continued use of 
prayer as a potent agency to sustain the drooping spirit 
dates from the captivity. Prayer now literally took the 
place of the morning and evening sacrifice. In Daniel we 
have the first recorded instance of any one kneeling three 
times a day in prayer. Now for the first time do we find 
a record of assemblages for prayer and lamentations. Here 
we have the real origin of the Jewish synagogue. Alms- 
giving and acts of beneficence and kindness now rose to 
their true dignity as acts of worship. True enough these, 
in time, hardened into mechanical observances, but during 
the captivity they were the spontaneous outpouring of 
love and sympathy. Thus the Jews returned to Palestine 
with much truer views of God and their own relation to 
him and to each other than they ever had before, with less 
of the national in their thoughts and more of the religious. 



304 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

Therefore, their punishment conserved the highest inter- 
est of man in all ages and in all countries. 

The Fall of Babylon. — The history of the Babylonian 
empire after the reign of Nebuchadnezzar is brief and 
somewhat uncertain. Evil-Maradoch, the son of Nebu- 
chadnezzar,, succeeded him. In two years his brother-in-law 
Nerighssar conspired against him and killed him. Four 
years later Neriglissar died a natural death and left the 
throne to his son, then a mere boy. He was soon slain 
through a conspiracy and the conspirators made Naboni- 
dus, one of their number, king. He married a daughter of 
the great Nebuchadnezzar and afterwards associated his 
son Belshazzar with him in the administration of the king- 
dom. Thus far the kingdom had been peaceful and prosper- 
ous ; but clouds now began to gather around it. When Ne- 
buchadnezzar died the most acute statesman would have 
failed to detect the source of the danger to Babylon. 
Egypt was weak and far off. Media was bound to her 
by ties of closest friendship and kinship and Persia soon 
became, if she was not already, a dependent of Media. Ac- 
cording to Xenophon, Cyrus the son of Cambyses, king 
of Persia, was held a hostage at the court of Astyages, 
king of Media. Cyrus plotted a revolt, escaped to the 
Persian army, and after a bloody war completely conquer- 
ed Media. Cambyses was killed and Cyrus became king 
of the Medo-Persian empire. Thus were these two 
"branches of the Aryan race united in a strong and aggres- 
sive empire. Both nations held to the doctrines of Zo- 
roaster. The Medes had abandoned them to some extent 
and had become luxurious in their lives, but the Persians 
cultivated the faith of their great religious teacher. Their 
education was "to ride the horse, to draw the bow and to 
speak the truth." They were monotheists. Ormadz, 
w^as their supreme god, the creator and supporter of all 



IN THE BIBLE. 305 

good. But there was another principle hostile to Ormadz, 
called Ahriman, whose peculiar delight it was to introduce 
evil and poison into the works of Ormadz. 

When the successful prince Cyrus had united the Me- 
dian and Persian nations, Babylon^ Egypt, Lydia and 
some of the Grecian states prepared to operate against 
him. Cyrus soon conquered Croesus, the rich and pow- 
erful king of Lydia, who was really ruler of all Asia Minor. 
Starting eastward he subdued everything in his way. 
When he came to Babylon he turned the waters of the 
Euphrates into a lake and entered the city through its 
channel under the wall. Belshazzar^ the crown prince and 
his nobles were engaged in a drunken revelry and were in 
no sense prepared to withstand the attack of the enemy. 
It is probable that the father of Belshazzar was besieged 
in some other fortified city of the empire, leaving the <ie- 
fense of the capital to his son and the queen mother^ the 
daughter of Nebuchadnezzar. A vivid account of this vic- 
tory is given in the fifth chapter of Daniel. Darius, the 
Median, mentioned in the last verse of the chapter, was 
made ruler or governor of the province of Babylon, and 
was thus bound in interest to the fortunes of Cyrus. 

Babylon had usurped the place of Assyria among the 
nations of the world. She differed but little in govern- 
mental policy and religion from that proud and corrupt 
nation. Stanley speaks of it as "An epoch when the Sem- 
itic race is to make way for the Aryan or Indo-Germanic 
nations, which, through Greece and Rome, are henceforth 
to sway the destiny of mankind. With these nations Cy- 
rus, first of Asiatic potentates, is to enter into close rela- 
tions, with Greece, henceforth, the fortunes of Persia will 
be inseparably bound up. Nay, yet more, of all the great 
nations of Central Asia, Persia alone is of the same 
stock as Greece and Rome and Germany. It was a true 



306 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

insight into the innermost heart of this vast movement^ 
which enables the prophet to discern in it, not merely the 
blessing of his own people, but the union of the distant 
isles of the Western sea with the religion hitherto confined 
to the uplands of Asia. It was a moment of meeting be- 
tween the race of Japheth and the race of Shem, those 
meetings that have been truly said to be the turning 
points of human history." 

Rawlinson says of it: "The conquest of Babylon by 
Persia was, practically, if not a death blow, at least a se- 
vere wound to that sensuous idol worship which had for 
more than twenty centuries been the almost universal re- 
ligion in the countries between the Mediteranean and the 
Zagros mountain range. * * * Parallel with the decline 
of the old Semitic idolatry was the advance of its direct 
antithesis, pure, spiritual Monotheism. The same blow 
which laid the Babylonian religion in the dust struck off 
the fetters from Judaism. Purified and refined by the 
precious discipline of adversity, the Jewish system, which 
Cyrus, feeling toward it a natural sympathy, protected, 
upheld and replaced in its proper locality, advanced from 
this time in influence and importance, leavening little by 
little the foul mass of superstition and impurity which 
came in contact with it. Proselytism grew more com- 
mon. The Jews spread themselves wider. The return 
from captivity, which Cyrus authorized almost immediate- 
ly after the capture of Babylon, is the starting point from 
which we can trace a gradual enlightenment of the 
heathen world by the dissemination of Jewish beliefs and 
practices — such dissemination being greatly helped by 
the high estimation in which the Jewish system was held 
by the civil authority, both while the empire of the Per- 
sians lasted and when power passed to the Macedonians." 
It was the dawn of the fulfillment of Noah's prophecy con- 



IN THE BIBLE. 307 

cerning Japheth. It was the beginning of the dominancy 
of the Aryan race. 

THE PROPHETS OF THE CAPTIVITY. 

Ezekiel. — The prophecies of Ezekiel consist largely of 
visions worked out in complete detail and often difficult to 
understand. He lived in his own house on the banks of 
the Chebar, a stream of Babylonia. Without doubt he 
here met many of the captives of Israel who had been car- 
ried to Assyria at the fall of Samaria. A common bond- 
age and the absence of any influence to keep up their na- 
tional jealousies brought the children of Israel again into 
fellowship and sympathy. This accounts for the utter in- 
difference of the prophet to distinguish between Judah and 
Israel. He was contemporary with Jeremiah and Daniel, 
who lived to the third year of the reign of Cyrus. The 
prophecies of Ezekiel were probably written at the time 
of their delivery and afterward arranged with some refer- 
ence to subject, which places some of them out of their 
chronological order. 

His prophecies differ from those of Isaiah and Jeremiah 
in that he does not address himself to the guidance of pub- 
lic affairs. The mission of the others looked to the re- 
form of the government, but with Ezekiel there was no 
government to reform. Personal responsibility, therefore, 
is more the burden of his thought. It is interesting and 
important to note the place Ezekiel fills in the economy of 
God as viewed in the light of the divine purpose in the ex- 
ile. The destruction of the nation and their captivity we 
have seen were not for punishment only, but to bring the 
chosen people to a higher appreciation of their God, and of 
pure spiritual worship. It was designed to suppress com- 
pletely the spirit of idol worship among the Hebrews. 
Since this was Ezekiel's special mission, we may expect 



308 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

to find his prophecies setting forth idol worship in all its 
hideousness, proclaiming the doom of all nations where 
it was the prevailing religious practice^ and disclosing the 
divine hand in the destruction of their own nation and their 
captivity. But destructive preaching was not enough. 
With the destruction of idol worship had also gone down 
that system of external privileges of which the Jew had 
been so proud, and which had occupied so large a place in 
his national religion. He had, therefore^ to revive the 
drooping spirits of the captives by withdrawing the veil 
from before their eyes and permitting them to see the true 
character of the divine government and the more exalted 
privileges of spiritual communion with their God. 

Themes. — The book falls naturally into two parts, de- 
termined by the events of the day : 

I. The destruction of the nation; its certainty and 
necessity. Chapters 1-24. 
II. The restoration of the people and their eternal 
peace. Chapters. 25-48. 

These first prophecies were given before the fall of Je- 
rusalem and are full of judgment and scathing criticism. 
After the fall the prophet's tone changes, and he com- 
forts the exiles with assurances of restoration and a glori- 
ous future. 

CHAPTERS 1-24. 

I. The prophet's consecration and commission. I : 
1-3:21. 
II. SymboHcal prophecies of the overthrow of Ju- 
dah. 3 : 22-7 : 27. 

III. The moral condition of Jerusalem. 8: 1-11-12. 

IV. A remnant saved. 11 : 13-25. 

V. Judgment and its moral necessity. 12: 1-19: 14. 
VI. Further and final predictions against Jerusalem. 
20: 1-27. 



IN THE BIBLE. 309 

CHAPTERS 25-48. 

I. Prophecies against the nation. 25 : 1-29 : 32. 
II. The restoration. 33 : 1-39 : 29. 

III. The final condition of the redeemed people. 40 : 

1—47 ' 23. 

IV. Location of the tribes in the land. 48: 1-35. 

It will not do to force a literal interpretation on the pro- 
phecies of Ezekiel. Even his instructions in regard to the 
future temple, at the settlement of the tribes are simply- 
ideal features. The Jews must have viewed them as such 
for, with all their respect for him as a prophet of the Lord, 
we read of no effort on their part to comply with these in- 
structions. 

THE PROPHECY OF DANIEL. 

The Outlook. — No prophetic book of the Bible has 
been made to do service to a more varied collection of po- 
litical and spiritual schemes than the prophecy of Daniel. 
Some argue that because Daniel was a prophet to a great 
gentile nation, his words, in so far as they relate to the 
future, are to be interpreted in the light of the history of 
gentile nations. This makes them purely political. Oth- 
ers hold that, since Daniel was a Jew, the revelations of 
God through him refer to the Christian Church; that na- 
tions are given a place in the prophecy only in so far as 
they have a direct bearing on the spiritual reign of the 
Messiah. Others maintain that the book of Daniel is an 
epitomized forecast of the domination, and the fall of gen- 
tile nations, and the political re-organization of the Jew- 
ish nation, carrying us on to the time of the second ad- 
vent of the Lord. 

It is to the Old Testament what the Revelation is to the 
New. Both are in a sense political and both lead up to 
the inauguration of a reign of righteousness. 



310 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

The book of Daniel is, therefore, unique in the Old 
Testament. Part of it is a revelation of the future, but 
none of it is directed toward the reform of the nation. It 
naturally divides into two parts with six chapters in each 
part. In the first part we have six contests between Je- 
hovah and idolatry, in every one of which Jehovah is hon- 
ored after the victory, 

I. A contest of wisdom and understanding, i. 
II. Revealing secrets. 2. 

III. Divine honor vindicated by power over fire. 3. 

IV. God's sovereignty acknowledged. 4. 

V. The prophecies of the fall of Babylon fulfilled. 5. 
VI. God's power to save recognized. 6. 
The Purpose of the Book of Daniel. — We have said 
that the mistake of the Jew was that he failed to recast his 
ideas of God into a wider, truer mould, when national en- 
tanglements brought him into vital relationship with 
heathen nations. His experience in captivity, we have 
seen, would deepen his convictions in the superiority of 
Jehovah over the idols of the other nations, and the ex- 
cellence of the Mosaic ceremonialism would appear more 
plainly. But there was nothing in all this to widen the 
common conception of a provincial deity into an only and 
independent and universal God. Even Ezekiel, Daniel's 
companion in exile, dwelling in the seclusion of his pri- 
vate house on the Chebar, did not understand it. Daniel's 
broad culture along lines of statecraft and his very close 
relation to the administration of a great heathen nation 
drew the limits of his horizon on a much larger circle. Of 
course, God could have made the weakest, most obscure 
Jew the medium of the revelation, but his method is to 
draft into his service the power and the culture attained 
through the ordinary channels of human development. 
Therefore, Daniel became God's mouthpiece; or, putting 



IN THE BIBLE. 311 

it differently, Daniel improved the God-instituted environ- 
ments of his life, so that he did not miss the honor of a 
highly responsible service. 

DanieFs mission was to show that the Messiah's reign 
was not an enlarged Judaism, but Judaism fulfilled and in- 
to which the whole world was brought. The purely na- 
tional was subordinated to the universal, and all the king- 
doms of the world were seen to be agencies in the evo- 
lution of this state, although contrary to their will and de- 
sign. Whether the mental astigmatism of the Jews ever 
allowed them to grasp this conception of the policy of God 
or not, the Christian world to-day, in the Hght of the pres- 
ent dispensation, can appreciate it. 

THE CONTENTS OF CHAPTERS 1-4. 

The first chapter is simply narrative, and requires no 
comment. It is a good introduction to the book, for it 
indirectly reveals the fibre of Daniel's character and that 
of his friends. The moral courage of these young men 
is simply sublime. 

The second chapter is not quite so easy to understand. 

Some have a disposition to interpret prophecy, i. e., in so 
far as it relates to a period future to its delivery, in the 
light of history since then, and we have no doubt that 
this is right in many cases ; others would prefer to relate 
quite a considerable portion of it to the present age or the 
still future, and in some cases this is right. In view of 
the fact that the utterances of the prophets related to na- 
tions, only so far as these nations in their national capacity 
were God's agents in the preparation of the world for 
the kingdom of Christ, it is not to be expected that mod- 
ern nations should occupy a place in prophecy simply to 
advertise their greatness and glory. God's method now 
is to evangelize the world by the direct effort of individu- 
als or organizations other than political. All interpreta- 



312 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

tions are evidently fanciful that make the stone cut out of 
the mountain without hands to be the government of the 
United States. True enough, it is reasonable to expect 
that a revelation to Nechudnezzar would be in large mea- 
sure political, but we think that nothing in ancient or mod- 
ern history has occurred on a scale large enough and far- 
reaching enough to assume to be the fulfillment of this 
prophecy. It has been intimated that Daniel's equipment 
in statecraft gave him a peculiar fitness to be God's mes- 
senger to the world along these lines, but the occasion of 
the prophecy was the peculiar relation that Nebuchad- 
nezzar's kingdom bore to the Jewish nation. Therefore^ 
it is fair to infer that the relation of any gentile nation to 
the development of God's special purpose will determine 
its position in the prophecy of Daniel. 

The crown of gold of Nebuchadnezzar's vision was the 
Babylonian power, the silver represented the Medo- 
Persian nation, united as they were under Cyrus^ the con- 
querer of the Babylonian power. The brass was the 
Greek nation, which, under Alexander, overthrew the Me- 
do-Persian rule and distributed the Greek culture and 
Greek language so widely. The iron and the clay was the 
Roman power. The incongruity of iron mixed with clay 
is a very fitting illustration of the heterogeneous Roman 
empire, strong and yet weak. 

The "stone cut out of the mountain without hands" in- 
dicates something altogether unlike the political organi- 
zations of any age. In all probability it relates to a 
change in God's method of human governments, not the 
quiet growth of a new principle, but revolutionary and cat- 
aclysmic. 

The third chapter is simple narrative, but reflects much 
light on the condition of the Hebrews in Babylon and on 
the despotism of an eastern monarch. About twenty-five 



IN THE BIBLE. 313 

years intervened between the fourth and fifth chapters, 
niaking the fourth stand in chronological order between 
the eighth and ninth. But chapters five and six change 
the political setting of the prophecy, and we turn to the 
fall of Babylon. 

The fifth chapter needs no comment to make clear or 
impressive the dramatic fall of the Babylonian power. The 
political situation has changed somewhat in the sixth 
chapter. Daniel is an old man^ surely not under eighty- 
five. Cyrus had placed Darius, a Median prince, also an 
old man, over the Babylonian province of the great Medo- 
Persian nation. The events recorded in this chapter bring 
Daniel again into high position in the nation. 

Daniel's Visions. — The remaining chapters of the 
book of Daniel record a series of visions, in which the old 
prophet sees the destiny of his nation and of those nations 
whose history is inseparably intertwined with it. The vi- 
sions of the seventh and eighth chapters are partially par- 
allel in so far as their political reference is concerned. The 
seventh chapter is dated in the first year of Belshazzar and 
the eighth in the third year. The visions revealed to Dan- 
iel, the destruction of the Babylonian power by the Medo- 
Persian, the destruction of the Medo-Persian by the 
Greek nation under Alexander, and the final supremacy 
of the Roman power. The ten horns of the fourth beast 
are the nations which grow out of the Roman, directly or 
indirectly. 

The ninth chapter records the prayer of Daniel for his 
people. With prophetic insight and from the prophecy of 
Jeremiah he knew that the time of the deliverance of the 
Jews was at hand. As his thoughts were clustered around 
his nation and her future, the past would present itself viv- 
idly to him. A consciousness of his nation's sin brought 
him before the Lord in earnest^ humble supplication. In 



314 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

answer to his prayer he was granted the assurance that the 
return was indeed near, but that it was not to usher in the 
Messianic reign, as the Jews had fondly hoped. We at- 
tempt no comment on the remaining chapters of Daniel. 
Part is plain and part is obscure, part relating to the near 
future and part to the time and person of the Messiah. 
These visions are indeed a fitting close to a long life of 
service and fidelity to Jehovah, 



PART V. 

THE NATION BECOMES A CHURCH, 

or 

The Ecclesiastical History of the Hebrews. 



IN THE BIBLE. 317 



XV. 
THE JEWISH NATION AFTER THE RETURN. 



The biblical history of the return of the Jewish nation 
from Babylonian captivity and their efforts to rebuild the 
temple and city is found in the books of Ezra, Nehemiah, 
Esther and the prophecies of Haggai and Zechar- 
iah. We have little doubt that the kind offices of Cyrus 
may be attributed in part to the monotheism of the Jews 
and probably in part to the efforts of Daniel. It would 
appear from Ezra i : 2, that Cyrus knew of the prophecy 
of Isaiah in which he is mentioned by name as the one who 
would rebuild the temple. "That saith of Cyrus, He is 
my shepherd and shall perform all my pleasure; even say- 
ing to Jerusalem thou shalt be built; and to the temple, 
thy foundation shall be laid. Isaiah 44: 28. 

His kindness to the Jews has woven a halo in Hebrew 
literature around his name. He not only gave them per- 
mission to return and to rebuild the temple, but asked for 
them the co-operation and contributions of others. 

Six chapters of the book of Ezra cover the history of 
the returned Jews until Ezra appeared among them in per- 
son. We have : 

I. The decree of Cyrus to rebuild the temple, i : 

1-6. 
II. To restore the vessels of the temple, i : 7-1 1. 

III. Number of people that returned. 2 : 1-70. 

IV. An altar erected. 3:13. 

V. Their worship reinstated. 3 : 4-7. 



318 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

VI. The foundation of the temple laid. 3: 8-13. 
VII. The Samaritans hinder the building. 

(i) They ask to be allowed to help. 4 : 1-2. 

(2) Their ofifer refused. 4:3. 

(3) Send a letter to Artaxerxes. (Smerdis.) 

4: 4-16. 

(4) The work stopped. 4: 17-24. 

VIII. Under the stimulus of the prophecy of Haggai 

and Zechariah the work was renewed. 5: 1-2. 

IX. Tatnai, the governor, reports them to Darius. 5 : 

3-17. 
X. Darius re-enacts the decree of Cyrus. 6: 1-12. 

XL The temple built. 6: 13-15. 

XII. Temple worship reinstated. 6: 16-22. ^ 

The Return. — Zerubbabel, a grandson of Jehoiachin, 
and Joshua^ the high priest, grandson of Seraiah^ whom 
Nebuchadnezzar had carried captive, were placed at the 
head of the 42,000 that were willing to endure the long 
march to Jerusalem. The condition of Palestine was any- 
thing but encouraging to the colony. The Edomites were 
occupying the territory south of Hebron to the Philistine 
plane and on the north of Jerusalem from Jericho to Sam- 
aria. The central part of Palestine was in the hands of a 
mixed race, which had been settled there at the time of 
the destruction of the northern kingdom. With the ex- 
ception of a few towns which Cyrus gave to the returned 
exiles, the whole land was occupied by strangers. The 
colony of Jews was subject to the Persian governor, who 
may have had his residence at Samaria. The return was 
pre-eminently a religious move. Besides the visions of 
political independence which filled their minds, they felt 
that a new religious center must be established. The pro- 
phets had inspired them to believe that from Jerusalem, 



IN THE BIBLE. 319 

now called the Holy City, and from the temple in Jerusa- 
lem would go forth an influence that would bring the 
world into religious subjection to them. 

The people around Jerusalem considered them- 
selves related to the Jews inasmuch as they worshipped 
the same God. Naturally they would sympathize with the 
effort to restore the former seat of worship in all its gran- 
deur. The refusal of the Jews to accept their proffered 
help changed them from friends into implacable enemies. 
It is impossible to decide at this distance and from the me- 
agre details we have on it whether this action of Zerub- 
babel and Joshua is to be commended or condemned. The 
Persian officials gave a willing ear to the complaint of the 
Samaritans and were not slow to suspect the Jews of con- 
spiracy. The fact that a prince of the royal house of Ju- 
dah was at the head of the enterprise gave color to their 
accusation. They sent hired counsellors to Cyrus, and 
thus succeeded in stopping the work for the time. 

The Persian History of the Period. — Before his death Cy- 
rus anointed Cambyses^ his son, to succeed him and made 
Smerdis, his second son^ ruler over part of his kingdom. 
When Cambyses came to the throne he secured the death 
of Smerdis so secretly that very few in his kingdom even 
knew he was dead. Cambyses then invaded Egypt. After 
a campaign of very indifferent success, and while on his 
journey back to his capital, a herald came into camp and 
announced that Smerdis was king. The fact was, an im- 
postor, who probably bore some personal resemblance to 
the murdered Smerdis, had seized the opportunity to 
usurp the throne. Cambyses killed himself, and the pseu- 
do-Smerdis was acknowledged king. In order to conceal 
his identity and terrorize the nation, he introduced a sys- 
tem of oppression and tyranny which soon alienated the 
nobles ; and yet they feared to move toward revolt, lest 



320 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

they should fall under the cruel hand of the tyrant. Se- 
cret caucuses, however, were held, at which plans of revolt 
were discussed. During this reign of terror, Darius, a 
prince of the royal house and probably in the direct line of 
succession, appeared at the capital. He at once became 
the head of the conspiracy, and, thus strengthened and en- 
couraged, the conspirators seized the palace and slew the 
king. Thus Darius I. was on the throne when the letter 
of Tatnai, the governor of Palestine, was received. He 
had the genius of the Persian nation and instituted a re- 
action against the polytheism introduced by the pseudo- 
Smerdis. The account of his treatment of the Jews is 
given in the sixth chapter of Ezra. It may be well here 
to note again the chronological order of the kings of Per- 
sia up to Darius I. Of course, we do not include Darius, 
the Median, whom Cyrus made governor of Babylonia for 
some time. 

(i) Cyrus, (2) Cambyses, (3) Smerdis, (4) Darius I. 

The Prophecy of Haggai. — Nothing was done at the 
temple for fifteen or sixteen years after the decree which 
stopped the work. During this time the colonists had 
busied themselves with their personal affairs and had be- 
come rich and prosperous. But the religious tone of their 
first years in Palestine was sadly lowered. At times God 
had sent judgments upon them, but they had failed to 
awake the national conscience. Haggai and Zechariah, 
seeing that the spiritual declension of the people was the 
greatest barrier to the completion of the temple, earnestly 
threw themselves into the work of reform. Haggai was 
an old man and Zechariah a young man. The prophecy 
of Haggai consists of four addresses : 

I. Address to Zerubbabel and Joshua to arouse those 
leaders and the people under them from the apathy into 



IN THE BIBLE. 321 

which they had fallen in regard to the building of the tem- 
ple. Chapter i: i-ii. The effect of the address is seen 
in 1 : 12-15. 

(i) They had built themselves fine houses, i : 1-4. 

(2) But it had not all been success, i : 5-6. 

(3) A new decree to build the house was not need- 

ed. 1 : 7-8. 

(4) Their return had a religious import, i : 9. 

(5) Judgments because they were not building the 

temple, i : lo-ii. 

(6) Effect, i: 12-15. 

II. The second address was given about four weeks 
after the first to encourage the Jews. The old people re- 
membered the glory of the former temple and depreciated 
the new. 2 : 1-9. 

III. The third address was delivered three months af- 
ter the second, and is an appeal to the priests to instruct 
the people. 2: 10-19. 

Their delay in building the temple was wrong. Their 
present zeal could not make their past wrong to be right 
any more than a priests' garment could make the unclean, 
clean ; yet for their zeal God would bless them. 

IV. The fourth address was given the same day as the 
third and was to encourage Zerubbabel. 2 : 20-23. 

The Prophecy of Zechariah. — 'Zechariah was a young 
man born in captivity. Haggai preached the duty of re- 
building the temple^ but Zechariah dwelt more on the mor- 
al hindrances to the work. The book divides naturally in- 
to two parts at the end of the eighth chapter. 

I. The introduction, which is a stern arraignment of the 
former generation and God's displeasure with it. i : 1-6. 

II. A series of visions for the purpose of encouraging 
and stimulating them. 



322 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

(i) The riders among the myrtle trees, the angels, 

ministers of God in their behalf, i : 7-17. 

(2) The four horns^ symbols of power,, or four na- 

tions destroyed, i : 18-21. 

(3) The man with a measuring line to reassure the 

Jews who were discouraged at the smallness 
of their city. 2 : 1-13. 

(4) Vision to meet the anxiety of the awakened 

conscience because of inquity, in which Sa- 
tan, the accusor, is silenced by the triumph 
of grace. 3 : i-io. 

(5) Vision of the candlestick and olive branches 

indicating that God's people were yet to 
shine in his sight by the reception of the 
Spirit through the ordinances. 4: 1-14. 

(6) A solemn warning of judgment for wick- 

edness. 5 : 1-4. 

(7) The woman sitting in the ephah, encourage- 

ment in reformation in life. 5 : 5-1 1. 

(8) Visions of the chariots with different colored 

horses, signs of political events now on the 
horizon, war, mourning, pestilence and vic- 
tory. 6: 1-8. 

III. A company of Jews having arrived from Babylon 
with gold and silver^ crowns were made for the priests 
symbolical of the kingly and priestly offices of the Mes- 
siah. 6: 9-15. 

IV. Teachings given two years later. 

(i) God requires obedience rather than fasting. 7: 

1-7. 
(2) God delights in justice and mercy but punishes 
sin. 7: 8-14. 



IN THE BIBLE. 323 

(3) God's favor promised and the people urged to 
to push forward the work on the temple. 8: 
1-23. 
The second part of the book is simple prophecy with- 
out visions. It consists of two oracles. The first is con- 
tained in chapters 9, 10^ 11^ and the second in chapters 12, 

13. 14. 

I. The conquest of Phoenicia and Philistia by Alexan- 
der the Great. 9: i-io. 

II. The successful wars of the Maccabees. 9: 11-17. 

III. Exhortations to prayer. 10: 1-12. 

IV. The true shepherd of Israel set forth in a contrast 
with a poor shepherd. 11 : 1-17. 

V. Prophetic views of the Messiah reign. 12, 13, 14. 
The Reign of Darius. — ^The first years of the reign 

of Darius were occupied in subduing again the dependen- 
cies of Persia, which, without exception, seem to have re- 
volted. After he had completed this task he planned the 
invasion of India on the east and Greece on the west. By 
his invasion of India the rich district of the Punjab be- 
came tributary to him. This was a conquest of no mean 
importance, for it opened to him a vast source of supply 
both for the army and capital. His Grecian Campaigns 
were not so successful. His army was finally defeated by 
Miltiades in the famous battle of Marathon. This battle 
saved Europe from eastern despotism and has therefore 
been a great blessing to all ages of the world since then. 
Darius returned to Persia to collect another army to invade 
Greece and to subdue Egypt which had again revolted ; 
but he died before the campaign was begun and left his 
throne to his son, Xerxes. 

The Jews During the Reign of Darius L — We have 
noted that when Darius came to the throne of Persia, 
Haggai and Zechariah stimulated the Jews to complete the 



324 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

building of the temple. The temple was finished on the 
third day of the month Adar, in the sixth year of Darius. 
The event inaugurated a period of great festivity. Indeed 
these were years full of deepest interest to the world. The 
establishment of the center of Jewish monotheism, the 
greatest conservative element of all real progress the 
world has ever experienced, had a fitting contemporary in 
the supremacy of western civilization over the eastern. 
These were the morning hours of the political and intellec- 
tual day of the world Cyrus^ Thales, the father of Gre- 
cian Philosophy^ and the Tarquins of Rome were contem- 
poraries ; Zerubbabel, Pythagoras and the Roman Repub- 
lic; Ezra, Pericles and the Tribunes of the People. 

THE BOOK OF ESTHER. 

Xerxes came to the throne after the death of Darius. 
He made another attempt to conquer Greece. The defeat 
of this enterprise in which was enlisted the greatest army 
ever collected in ancient or modern times is familiar to all. 
Before he set out on his campaign he made a long feast 
to his nobles and his lords. It was on the last day of this 
feast, when inflamed with wine, that he ordered his queen, 
Vashti, to appear in the royal presence that his lords 
might behold her beauty. This was in gross violation of 
all Eastern customs and ideas of propriety. With woman- 
ly dignity she refused to obey the king. Her course was 
impolitic, but her nobleness and spirit will forever com- 
mand the admiration and respect of the civilized world. 
Xerxes was surrounded by deceitful flatterers and they 
made the most of this occasion. It is the same to-day. 
Any man who holds a position of influence will find it dif- 
ficult to learn the truth about himself. If these conditions 
persist for a period of years he ceases to have an ear for 
the truth and is ready to court the favor of the flatterer 
and to persecute any who do not heartily Indorse what he 



IN THE BIBLE. 325 

does. When Xerxes came to himself and realized what 
he had done he suffered such rem.orse that his courtiers 
became alarmed and took steps to secure him another 
queen. While preparation was being made for this event 
he undertook his Grecian campaign. When he returned 
from it, he seemed to have lost all military ambition and 
plunged into a life of dissipation. Here begins his rela- 
tion to the Jewish nation recorded in the book of Esther. 
Chronologically it is to be placed between the sixth and 
seventh chapters of the book of Ezra. No book in the 
Bible is more attractive. It is a simple unvarnished tale 
of an oriental court. Although it does not contain the 
name of God its whole contents is a striking, concrete vin- 
dication of providence in the affairs of men. The events 
occurred at Shushan, or Susa, the capital, about one hun- 
dred and fifty miles north of the Persian Gulf. 

I. The king's feast and Vashti's divorcement. I : 

. 1-22. 

II. Esther chosen queen. 2 : 1-20. 

III. Mordecai saves the king's life. 2 : 21-23. 

IV. Haman's promotion and decree against the Jews. 

V. Esther saves the nation and Haman executed, 
(i) Mordecai mourns. 4: 1-14. 

(2) The Jews fast. 4: 15-17. 

(3) Esther invites the king, to a banquet. 5 : 

1-8. 

(4) Haman prepares a gallows for Mordecai. 

5 •9-14- 

(5) Mordecai honored. 6: 1-14. 

(6) Haman hanged. 7 : i-io. 

(7) Mordecai advanced. 8 : 1-2. 

(8) A counter decree. 8: 3-17. 

(9) The Jews saved. 9: 1-16. 



326 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES ; 

VI. The feast of Purim established. 9: 17-32. 
VII. Xerxes and Mordecai. 10: 1-4. 

Ezra and His Work. — We now take up the broken 
thread of the history of the Jews in Palestine. Xerxes 
reigned nine years after the events recorded in the book of 
Esther. He was murdered by conspirators, and Artaxerxes, 
his son^ came to the throne. This occurred about sev- 
enty years after the decree of Cyrus authorized the Jews 
to rebuild the temple at Jerusalem. Sixty years, there- 
fore, elapsed between the events recorded in the sixth and 
seventh chapters of Ezra. The seventh chapter begins 
the personal work of Ezra among the people in Jerusalem. 
The Jews in Babylon had prospered under Esther and 
Mordecai, and their religion had been kept comparatively 
pure. For these reasons it was not so easy to secure men 
to go to Jerusalem. It was, to say the least, a venture; 
but Ezra succeeded in raising a company, and with the 
permission of the king came to Jerusalem. The reaction 
against idol worship had brought the nation to a strict ob- 
servance of the Mosaic law. But the obstacles which the 
neighboring nations had opposed to rebuilding the temple 
and the delay occasioned by them had somewhat cooled the 
ardor of the Jews. Another generation, devoted largely 
to material pursuits, was not so exclusive as their fathers 
had been. Business and social alliances had been formed 
which were against the letter of the Mosaic law. These 
things changed Ezra's joy in seeing the temple into sad- 
ness for the moral degeneracy of the people. He gives us 
in chapters 7-10 an account of his efforts to reform the 
nation. During the time of Ezra, or thirteen years after 
he first came to Jerusalem, Nehemiah came from ^aby- 
lon with another reinforcement of Jews. But we defer a 
consideration of his work for the present. 



IN THE BIBLE. 327 

I. Ezra goes to Jerusalem. Ezra. 7: i-io. 

II. His commission. 7: 11-26. 

III. Ezra's gratitude. 7: 27-28. 

IV. Ezra's company. 8: 1-14. 

V. Secures ministers for temple service. 8: 15-20. 

VI. A fast observed. 8: 21-36, 

VII. Ezra's prayer. 9:1-15. 

VIII. His reform. 10: 1-44. 

Ezra's Reform. — Ezra's reform was as exacting as 
that of Josiah had been ; but it was narrow and prejudiced. 
It exalted the letter above the spirit of the law. Its legit- 
imate fruit is found in the sects of the Pharisees and the 
Sadducees — the rigid formalists and the sceptics. The li- 
beralism of Abraham and David was gone, and that of 
Christ and Paul had not yet risen. Stanley says : " But 
it was the peculiarity of the age through which the religion 
of Israel was now passing that to the more keenly strung 
susceptibilities of the nation every approach to the exter- 
nal world was felt as a shock and pollution." Ezra was 
a scribe first, whose vehement attachment for the law 
drove him to the extreme ; and a priest second, whose cul- 
ture had not specially fitted him to the judicious exercises 
of governmental authority. Nehemiah co-operated with 
him and supplied in large measure the want of the nation. 

NEHEMIAH AND HIS ADMINISTRATION. 

I. Nehemiah secures permission to rebuild the walls 
of Jerusalem : 
(i) He learns of the condition of Jerusalem. 
1:1-3. 

(2) His prayer, i: 4-1 1. 

(3) He presents his petition to Artaxerxes. 2 : 

1-5. 

(4) Secures the grant. 2 : 6-8. 



328 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

II. Nehemiah explores the work. 2 : 9-20. 

III. The order of the builders. 3 : 1-32. 

IV. The danger and how it was met. 4 : 1-23. 

V. Nehemiah reforms the oppression of the poor. 
5:1-19. 

VI. Sanballet's scheming against Nehemiah. 6: 1-14. 

VII. The wall finished. 6: 15-19. 

VIII. Register of the captives who returned. 7 : 1-73. 

IX. The covenant with God. 8: i-io: 39. 

X. The residence of the people decided. 11 :i — 12: 

47- 
XL Obedience to law. 13 : 1-31. 

The Prophecy of Malachi. — Ezra and Nehemiah were 
indeed reformers after a type^ but their effort was contract- 
ed into a sphere far too narrow to produce a lasting im- 
pression. While Nehemiah lived in Jerusalem and held 
the reins of government with a strong and steady hand, 
the life and worship of the people seemed to have the puri- 
ty of the Mosaic times ; but the heartlessness of the whole 
religious life of the nation came to the surface whenever 
Nehemiah was called back to Shushan. The rich began 
to oppress the poor, tithes were not paid, either through 
indifference or indisposition to obey the law of Moses on 
this point; matrimonial alliances were formed with the 
heathen nations, and a general state of low morals en- 
sued. This state of affairs brought Malachi to the front 
as the last prophet of the old dispensation. His prophetic 
inspiration opened to him clear views of the Christian dis- 
pensation, and he saw better than any of his predecessors 
the Jehovah character of the Messiah. ReaHzing the 
needs of the time, his remarks are stern and fearless ; but 
the nation was not right at the heart. The whole subse- 
quent history of the Jews was colored by the reforms of 
Ezra and Nehemiah. Then began that exclusiveness which 



IN THE BIBLE. 329 

was only partially broken by the Roman supremacy and 
which was such a menace and a hindrance to our Savior in 
his work. The letter of the law became supreme. Ra- 
binical teachings were exalted to the authority of the Mo- 
saic code. Life became a bondage to ceremonialism. The 
nation became encysted in a relentless Pharisaism. The 
national life was thus kept in a condition of suspended an- 
imation. It was not dead; it contained the living germ, 
but there was no growth, no development. Just one 
event more, and the course of the nation as an independ- 
ent organization was run. That event was the culmina- 
tion of their whole history and clothes the struggles of the 
Jewish nation between Malachi and Matthew with undy- 
ing interest. The Savior, the Angel of the Covenant, 
drew nigh, and the nation which for so many centuries had 
been the peculiar people of God must live until the plan 
for man's redemption was finished and the promise to 
Abraham verified: "In thy seed shall all the families of 
the earth be blessed." 

I. Introduction, i : 1-5. 
II. Rebuke to those who had despised the name of 
Jehovah and laid defective and polluted of- 
ferings on His altar, i : 6 — 2 : 9. 

III. People and priests both rebuked for their open 

and defiant violation of the law of Mo- 
ses. 2 : 10-16. 

IV. The day of the Lord. 2 : 17 — 4 : 3. 

V. Admonished to obey the laws of Moses. 4 : 4-6. 

The Jewish Prophets. — Malachi closes the canon of 
Old Testament prophecies. Four hundred years of si- 
lence and John the Baptist is introduced, a transition char- 
acter, standing between the Old Dispensation and the New. 
The prophets of the Hebrew nation fulfilled an important 
mission to the nation and the world. He misses the 



330 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

Spirit and import of the Jewish nation who does not see in 
its history and Hterature a gradual unfolding of the Mes- 
sianic idea. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the 
prophetic writings. Our study has not called it forth spe- 
cifically, and yet we trust that it has been present in the 
mind of the reader. Very early in the course we formu- 
lated the problem of the purpose of inspired revelation, 
viz. : Given a holy and just and loving God and sinful man, 
and a plan of reconciliation through the person and work 
of a worthy substitute, how induce in man a sense of sin- 
fulness, a feeling of need and a willingness to co-operate 
in the plan. God's providential economy led the nation 
at last to recognize him as supreme; but it was largely 
through the prophets that the notion of a Redeemer be- 
came the common heritage. As time drew toward the cul- 
mination of God's plan the idea of the Savior began to 
take definite form. At first it was simply "the seed of the 
woman," then the Shiloh, afterward a victorious prince 
and then a suffering Savior. The prophetic conception of 
the Messiah changed from a national deliverer to a univer- 
sal mediator. The Hebrews had failed to appreciate the 
Mosaic constitution and all along throughout their history 
they had misinterpreted the blessings and judgments of 
God; now they did not understand even dimly the pro- 
phet's forecast of the purposes of God, toward which he 
had been leading them all these years. When the Mes- 
siah came they did not recognize him, and they are to-day, 
though dispersed through all nations, looking toward Je- 
rusalem and waiting for a Messiah who will correspond 
to their preconceived ideas of the teaching of the prophets. 



IN THE BIBLE. 331 



XVI. 
ISRAEL BETWEEN MALACHI AND MATTHEW. 



A Period of Origins. — We turn now from the biblical 
history of the Jews to what is commonly called secular 
history. Our effort shall be to study the preparation of 
the world for the coming of the Messiah, in history not ex- 
clusively devoted to this subject. God's treatment of the 
Hebrew nation was not an experiment, and did not result 
in failure. The view has widened until we see the Jews, 
still a peculiar people of God, still the medium of divine 
blessing to man, but not even apparently the sole content 
of God's purpose of mercy and grace. 

From our vantage ground, we may see the divine pur- 
pose in the political dispersion of the Jews. It was the 
best way to widen their conception of God and thus cor- 
rect their pre-disposition to idolatry. It was also neces- 
sary to the preparation of the world for Christ, who was 
to touch all nations, not as a Jew, but as a man and a 
Savior. 

The intellectual status of the world at the time of Mal- 
achi is worthy of remark. Interest centers in the Greek 
nation. The idea of colonization appealed to the Greek 
m.ind as strongly as did the idea of conquest. Therefore, 
colonies were planted along the lines of conquest, and 
these were so thoroughly Hellenized that the Greek lan- 
guage and Greek culture prevailed. Socrates, by the 
grandeur of his teaching and his martyr death had given 
an impetus to philosophy in its higher departments. Out 



332 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

of his philosophy grew the lofty spiritual doctrines of Pla- 
to, which were conducive to the earnestness and faith re- 
quired by the Hebrew and the Christian religions. 

India had been made tributary to Persia in the time of 
Uzziah. Buddha had launched on the world a religion 
which yet claims its millions. China was at this time 
brought into touch with the rest of the world. When Ez- 
ra was writing in Palestine, and Socrates teaching in 
Greece, Confucius was shaping a religious philosophy in 
that solitary empire, whose influence is felt to-day in bitter 
antagonism to the Christian faith. Confucius, Socrates, 
Ezra, contemporaries, whose influence still lives; the one 
in a debased system of idolatry, the other in a pure philo- 
sophy, and the third in an encrusted Judaism. 

Alexander. — Philip of Macedon was planning a cam- 
paign against Persia at the time of his death. Alexander 
the Great, undertook to complete the work of his father. 
Egypt and Palestine readily joined him, but he was oblig- 
ed to conquer Tyre^ which he accomplished only after a 
long siege. He then marched against Darius IH., who 
met him with an army of half a million. Darius was de- 
feated^ and Alexander became an Eastern potentate. His 
ruling passion seems to have been to establish a world- 
wide empire, to unite the European and Asiatic races in 
one nation, and to establish the Greek language and Greek 
culture throughout it. Many legends, doubtless contain- 
ing a measure of truth, cluster around the name of Alex- 
ander. It is said that a Roman embassy came to him 
when he was in Babylon, and that struck with their bear- 
ing and dignity^ he prophesied that Rome would one day 
be a great world power. He conquered Gaza and may 
have visited Jerusalem in a friendly way. He founded the 
city of Alexandria, which afterward became a mighty in- 
fluence in the world of politics and letters. When he died 



IN THE BIBLE. 333 

he was carried across many miles of desert from Babylon 
to Alexandria and buried in the city called by his name. 

The Effect of the Alexandrian Conquests on the Jews. 
— The glory of the Grecian history fades after the death 
of Alexander. Asiatic luxury enslaved the hardy 
truth-speaking Persian,, and the same agency caused the 
art and literature of the Grecian nation to decline. For 
twenty-two years after the death of Alexander his princi- 
pal officers fought over the division of his empire. It fi- 
nally fell into four parts, Syria, Egypt^ Thrace, with part 
of Asia Minor^ and Macedonia and Greece. Palestine 
was thus again made the borderland of two great and gen- 
erally hostile nations. Her efforts for independence, and 
her relation to these nations and to Rome constitute the 
remainder of our study. Judah remained Semitic, but 
many towns sprung up in Palestine which were wholly 
Greek. The Greek influence, however, was not without 
its influence on the Jews. They were confronted every- 
where with Greeks and the Greek culture. Although 
they remained loyal to the customs of their fathers in the 
essentials, yet they could not be indifferent to Grecian ele- 
gance of form, and refinement and profoundity of thought. 
For a time the Jewish rulers succeeded in prohibiting the 
study of the Greek language. Caesarea^ Askelon, Joppa and 
Gaza were Greek towns in which the language was spo- 
ken by imperial decree. These were great business cen- 
ters, and the traditions of the fathers could not keep the 
sons of Jacob from such intercourse with them as made a 
knowledge of the Greek language necessary. They soon 
gave up the struggle, and before long the Jewish Scrip- 
tures were translated into the Greek. This translation 
is called the Septuagint. It was the first translation of 
the Scriptures, and was counted authoritative in Christ's 
time. This was virtually the extension of the Hope of 



334 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

Israel to the Gentiles, into whose hands this translation 
fell. Judaism had run its course. Nothing was now to 
be gained by exclusiveness. In vain did the leaders of 
Jewish thought struggle against this Hellenizing tenden- 
cy and endeavor to preserve the character of the Jewish 
nation in its integrity. 

Epicurianism^ although a prevailing philosophy, was so 
purely unscriptural that it had little influence on the Jew; 
but the lofty speculations of Plato and the self-abnegation 
of the Stoic were peculiarly suited to his mind. They 
sought to find in Plato a basis for their theology and in 
the Stoic a basis for their ethics. As a result Jewish phil- 
osophy became a curious mixture of Platonism^ Stoicism, 
and Judaism. Philo attempted to weave the doctrines of 
the Greek philosophies and the Hebrew prophets into one 
web. To do this he considered the Bible in two aspects, 
literal and allegorical. In his philosophy personages are 
made to represent moral affections and states, and histor- 
ical events, experiences of the soul. The Jew of Palestine, 
therefore, was not the one to preserve the faith of the fa- 
thers. He still looked for a Messiah who would be his 
own peculiar property, but the Grecian Jew looked for a 
world-wide Teacher. 

Palestine Under the Ptolemies. — For one hundred and 
fifty years after the breaking up of Alexander's Empire, 
Palestine was tributary to the Graeco-Egyptian dynasty. 
The Ptolemies reigned with moderation and wisdom. The 
relationship was so close that Alexandrian culture and 
life had a marked influence in Palestine. It was this sympa- 
thy that originated the Septuagint. The Jewish priesthood 
was as corrupt as it had been during the closing years of 
the Persian rule. They farmed the revenues of the coun- 
try until they themselves became immensely wealthy. Si- 
mon the Just shines out, a bright star in this moral dark- 



IN THE BIBLE. 335 

ness. Many traditions represent him as closing the bet- 
ter days of Judaism. He seems to have been safe in the 
commanding influence of an upright character. He re- 
fused Ptolemy IV. admission to the temple. Tradition 
says that the Egyptian king fell to the pavement of the 
temple and was carried from the presence of Simon. 

The Septuagint gave an impetus to Graeco-Hebrew lit- 
erature. Some finishing touches were given to the his- 
toric books of the Bible. Additions were made to the sac- 
red volumes, but they were part of the Greek Bible rather 
than the Hebrew. These writings of this period are call- 
ed the Apocrypha. It consists of fourteen books and 
was formerly bound between the authorized version of the 
Old and New Testament. The word means hidden or 
covered, and was first applied to those books whose au- 
thorship was unknown. Since the time of Jerome the 
term has been applied to those writings of the Septuagint 
not thought to be canonical. The Greek church excluded 
them from the canon of inspired writings in 360 A. D. 
The Latin church placed them on an equality with the 
rest of the Old Testament at the council of Trent, 1545- 
1563. The church of England uses them in part for edi- 
fication, but not for "establishment of doctrine." All oth- 
er protestant churches of Europe and America reject their 
use in public worship. 

Palestine Under the Seleucidae. — The Kingdom of Seleu- 
cus was the greatest and richest of the divisions of Alex- 
ander's empire. Its capital was at Antioch and its terri- 
tory included Syria and part of Asia Minor. But for one 
hundred and twenty-five years the influence of this Syrian 
kmgdom was not felt in Palestine. It was in the reign of 
Seleucus IV., the sixth king from Seleucus I., that Syria 
assumed an aggressive attitude toward Jerusalem. Egypt 
was the first objective point of the invasion of the Antioch 



336 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

king. Antiochus IV., who had been held twelve years as 
a hostage at Rome for payment of a heavy war indemnity, 
was a most unscrupulous and unwise ruler. After com- 
pleting the conquest of Egypt he seized Jerusalem. He re- 
solved to bring his whole empire to a rigid uniformity. He 
therefore instituted a persecution of the Jews. He com- 
pelled them to sacrifice swine's flesh on altars dedicated to 
Jehovah. For several years the Jews suffered the most 
cruel persecution they had ever felt. Jerusalem was al- 
most depopulated of Jewish inhabitants. Jewish worship 
was suspended and the ceremonies prohibited. Any one 
found with a copy of the Jewish Scriptures was put to 
death. In i68 B. C, a pagan altar was erected on the site 
of the Great Altar of Burnt Offering and heathen sacri- 
fices were offered on it. Swine were kept in the sacred pre- 
cincts of the temple and slaughtered there. Instruments 
of torture were invented to convert the Jews to heathen- 
ism. But a religion is not easily destroyed by persecu- 
tion. Generally it terminates in a revival and the persecu- 
tion of Antiochus IV. is no exception to the rule. 

The Maccabees. — The revival instituted by the Syrian 
oppression has few parallels in history. The Jews were 
excited into opposition not only to Syrian influence but 
Grecian as well. An aged priest Mattathias and his five 
sons John, Simon, Judas, Eleazer and Jonathan refused to 
obey the king's commands. They killed the king's com- 
missioner and threw down the heathen altar. The old 
man and his sons then fled to the mountains where he 
gathered about him a band of men of like conviction. He 
died within a year and Judas took command. He receiv- 
ed the name Makkab, or hammer, and from this the title 
Maccabees originated. By a series of brilliant victories 
Jerusalem was wrested from the Syrian power and the 
Jewish worship restored. Antiochus, who was beyond the 



IN THE BIBLE. 337 

Euphrates when the Jewish revolt began, now concen- 
trated his forces against Judas and his army. The two 
armies met near Emmaus and the Jews were completely 
victorious. Years of almost constant struggle for inde- 
pendence now ensued. Judas was killed in battle. He 
was succeeded by Jonathan and afterwards by his younger 
brother Simon, under whose leadership the independence of 
the Jews was recognized even by Syria. 

This uprising gave the Jews a deep sense of the per- 
manence of their institutions. It bound them together 
more closely and inspired them with such a zeal for the 
recovery of their independence that a party of them was 
called the Zealots. They were intensely jealous for their 
God and the nation. Simon the Zealot was among Christ's 
disciples. 

Jewish Parties. — The religious parties of the Jews rose 
during this epoch and party spirit ran high. The Phari- 
sees, the Sadducees and the Essenes, three distinct 
sects, rose during the administration of Jonathan. 

1. The sect of the Pharisees grew out of the reaction 
against Greek institutions. They worked with earnest zeal 
for a complete separation from the Gentile world. Al- 
though somewhat out of harmony with the age, which was 
pronounced in favor of unification, yet the Pharisees were 
the popular party among the Jews at this time. In the 
time of Christ they were the sticklers for the law; but to 
them the law was only a dry form void of the spirit of the 
Mosaic times. 

2. The Sadducean party was satisfied with the written 
law without the traditions of the elders to which the Phar- 
isees clung so tenaciously. They were not anxious to 
increase the diflference between themselves and their Gen- 
tile neighbors. They were the politicians of the nation, the 
office seekers, the aristocratic class, whose religious views 



338 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

were decidedly colored by a somewhat degraded Grecian 
philosophy. They were hard and severe on those who dif- 
fered from them. It was a Sadducean king that after- 
wards mocked and insulted Christ, a Sadducean council 
that gave him to a Roman governor, and a Sadducean mob 
that placed a crown of thorns upon his head. 

3. The Essenes were a branch of the Pharisees. They 
stood as the extreme limit of mystic asceticism. Their 
code was a compound of the Hebrew economy and the 
Stoic philosophy. They were communists and practiced 
self-denial and temperance. Purity and divine commun- 
ion were the objects of their aspirations. They had no- 
thing in common with the Christian faith of after years ex- 
cept what related directly to the law of Moses. They 
v/ere far from catching the spirit of world-wide divine care 
which was even then in the subdued light of early dawn. 

The strange part of it all is that these parties so hostile 
to each other, so different in belief and practice could meet 
on the common level of the Mosaic ritual. The Sadducee, 
refusing the oral traditions and denying a future existence, 
could unite in worship with the Pharisee. The Jewish 
church was wider than all the parties. Out of each rose, 
now and again, men who could not be held by the close 
lines of party and who stood, a protest against party spirit 
which tended so much to rend asunder the Jewish church, 
at that time the only custodian of the true faith. 

Palestine Under the Romans. — In 63, B. C, during the 
consulship of Cicero and the conspiracy of Cataline, Pom- 
pey, one of Rome^s greatest generals, moved toward Pal- 
estine. Antioch was the first objective point. Here he 
dissolved the last remnant of Syrian rule, which from the 
time of Antiochus IV. had felt the Roman influence. No 
such person had visited Palestine since the time of Alex- 
ander. All Western Asia was stirred at his approach. At 



IN THE BIBLE. 339 

this time there were two rivals in Jerusalem, Aristo- 
bulus, of the Sadducean party, and Hyrcanus, of the Phari- 
sees. Aristobulus was virtually king. When Pompey 
was near Damascus both rulers visited him to secure his 
favor. When he was nearer Jerusalem Aristobulus again 
approached him, but Pompey ordered him to be arrested 
and bound. On the Sabbath day Pompey stormed and 
took the city. Doubtless he had often heard of the Jew- 
ish God and Jewish temple, but now he had a chance to 
see for himself. He entered the temple and passed with- 
in the "Holy of Holies." He probably expected to find 
some image of the Hebrew God there, but he found no- 
thing, instead of fabled figures the stillness of a spirit- 
filled place. The next day he ordered the temple to be 
purified and set Hyrcanus in the priestly office ; but the 
Jews never forgot the rude act of Pompey. They were 
confined within the limits of Judah, which was afterwards 
known as Judaea. The unity of the government was 
broken into five separate councils of equal powers. Many 
Jew^s were compelled to accompany Pompey to Rome to 
grace his triumph. He gave them a section of territory 
on the right bank of the Tiber. This settlement increased 
from time to time and was, in Paul's time the nucleus of 
the Roman church. 

Hyrcanus had attached to himself one, Antipater, a 
strong, crafty man of the Edomite stock. In 57, B. C., 
Alexander, the son of Aristobulus, overthrew the govern- 
ment of Hyrcanus and Antipater, but the Roman army 
soon quelled the revolt. In 56, B. C., Aristobulus himself 
escaped from Rome and began a war to reclaim his lost 
power. He failed, and later Alexander made another at- 
tem.pt to displace Hyrcanus. Antipater, who was the real 
spirit in the defense, now became the unfettered lord of 
the country. 



340 PROGRESSIVE STUDIES 

In 49, B. C, civil war broke out between Caesar and 
Pompey. Caesar set Aristobulus free and sent him with 
twqjjegions to rid his native land of adherents to Pompey. 
By the order of Pompey, Aristobulus was poisoned and 
Alexander was beheaded at Antioch. When Pompey was 
crushed, Antipater at once marched to Caesar with 3,000 
chosen troops and proposed to become his vassal. Caesar 
treated him very kindly, sanctioned the high priesthood 
of Hyrcanus, united the five councils and made Antipater 
procurator of Palestine. Hyrcanus received the rank of 
Roman senator, and the priesthood and civil power were 
separated, with Hyrcanus at the head of one, and Antipater 
of the other. Antipater at once made his son Herod gov- 
ernor of Galilee. 

When Caesar was assassinated and Antony was moving 
toward Asia to secure taxes to pay his soldiers, a deputa- 
tion of Jews met him to ask that he dethrone Herod who 
was then the chief of the family of Antipater. But Herod 
had more money than the people and instead of dethron- 
ing him, he granted him substantial favors. Herod thus 
became ruler of Palestine. There is evidence that he de- 
sired to treat his subjects well but the demands of Rome 
for money forced him to oppress them. Court intrigues 
and jealousies rendered Herod's life miserable. He slew 
many of his kindred and beheaded his wife because she 
resented the wholesale slaughter of her friends. He also 
beheaded the aged Hyrcanus. Although Herod did much 
politically for the Jews yet he was hated by them. His 
last years were spent in constant fear of assassination and 
in remorse. He died in terrible agony of a loathesome di- 
sease. A study of the history of this unhappy man re- 
veals the cause of his eagerness to destroy the child Christ, 
the King of the Jews. 



IN THE BIBLE. 341 

Christ the Culmination of the Hebrew Economy. — -The 
event which took the last remnant of spirit out of the He- 
brew economy was the coming of the Messiah. The tenets 
of the true reHgion could no longer be kept in the narrow 
boundaries of Jewry. It immediately assumed vaster do- 
main. The conquest of Alexander had done much to pre- 
pare the world for this sudden expansion of the Christian 
idea. The consolidation and universality of the Roman 
nation did m.uch to further the same end. When Paul 
brought the Christian religion into the forum, the palace, 
and the schools of philosophy, a blow was struck that vi- 
brated through every nerve of the body politic. The gi- 
gantic fabric of pagan Rome was falling into decay, but 
another power was growing within her vast domain, destin- 
ed to revolutionize ideas of civil government, a power on 
whose banner was enshrined the motto : "Peace on earth, 
good will toward men." 



INDEX. 

Page. 

Abraham, call of 47 

Abraham, faith of 48 

Abraham, development of faith 49 

Abraham, sacrifice of 50 

Abraham, migration of 49 

Abraham, covenant of 50 

Abraham, and monotheism 44 

Abraham, his journey to Egypt 49 

Abel, sacrifice of 30 

Abel, representative character 32 

Ahaz, league of 270 

Ahaz, outlook of 271 

Ahab, reign of 208 

Ahab, marriage of 209 

Ahab, religion of 209 

Ahab, and Elijah 210 

Ahab, political career 211 

Ahaziah, reign of 212 

Ahaziah, and Athaliah 216 

Ai 143 

Alexander 332 

Alexander, effect of conquest on the Jews 333 

Amalekites, battle with 84 

Amaziah and Ahaziah 216 

Amaziah and Ahaziah, reign of 228 

Amos, prophecy of 238 

Amos, call of 239 

Amos, theme introduced 241 

Amos, visions of 247 

Antiochius IV 336 

Apocrypha 335 

Ark, building of 35 

Aristobulus 339 

Asa 203 

Assyria 305 

Assyria, league with Judah 270 

Babylonia 297 

Babylon, fall of 304 

Babel 42 

Balaam • 138 

Balak 138 

Battles 143 



344 INDEX. 

Page. 

Battle with Amalekites 84 

Bethel experience of Jacob 59 

Bible, the 4 

Bible history 5 

Bible history and science 12 

Biblical history 184 

Blasphemy, treason 93 

Blessing, Rebekah and 55 

Blessing, Isaac and 54 

Blessing, Jacob and 55 

Blessing, Esau and 55 

Blood command 36 

Bondage, Israel in 72 

Bondage, purpose of Egyptian 66 

Book, the 264 

Book of the law 128 

Building the ark 35 

Cain, his descendants 33 

Cain, sacrifice of 30 

Cain, a representaive character 32 

Cain and Seth 33 

Caesar 340 

Cambyses 304, 319 

Captives, Hebrew 298 

Captives, social position of 299 

Captives, literature of 299 

Captives, religion of 300 

Captivity, prophecies during 307 

Canaan, early inhabitants of 134 

Canaan, conquest of 134, 139 

Canaanites, command to exterminate 144 

Christ, the culmination of the Hebrew economy 341 

Command, the blood 36 

Command, to Adam 19 

Command, necessity for 19 

Commandments, the ten 86 

Commandments, contents of 88 

Confusion of tongues 42 

Conquest, East Jordanic 136 

Conquest, of the kings 42 

Congress, the national 104 

Covenant with Abraham 50 

Code, the Levitical 108 

Code, Criminal 92 

Creation 10 

Daniel 309 

Daniel, book of 310 

Daniel, visions of 313 



INDEX. 345 

Page. 

Daniel, prophecy of, political 312 

Danger lines 178 

Darius I 320 

Darius I., reign of 323 

Darius I., Jews under 323 

David and his reign 171 

David, a man after God's own heart 174 

Death, a punishment 21 

Death, spiritual 22 

Death, physical 23 

Development, extreme conditions unfavorable to 83 

Divine revelation necessary 2 

Disruption of the kingdom, remote causes of 186 

Disruption of the kingdom, immediate causes of 187 

Disruption of the kingdom, from the Lord 188 

Dreams, Joseph's 65 

Egypt, purpose of sojourn in 66 

Elijah and Ahaziah 212 

Elijah and Ahah 210 

Elisha and his work 213 

Elders, the seventy 104 

Enemies, Israel's East Jordanic 137 

Epoch marking events 29 

Epicuraenism 334 

Esau and the blessing 55 

Esther, the book of 324 

Essenes 338 

Evil, permission of 67 

Evil-Merodach 292 

Expulsion from the garden 24 

Exodus 71 

Exile, .period of 297 

Ezekiel 209, 307 

Ezra 326 

Ezra, Reforms of 327, 328, 329 

Faith, Abraham's 48 

Faith, its culmination 47 

Faith, fundamental principle of Hebrew nation 46 

Fall of Babylon 304 

Flood 28 

Flood, locality of 36 

Flood, and natural law 37 

Flood, cause of 34 

Flood, a work of mercy 36 

Frazier 286 

Garden, expulsion from 24 

Genesis, time covered by 10 



346 INDEX. 

Page. 

Gideon 151 

God's new name 76 

God's limits of commission 136 

God's attitude to kingdom 275 

God's relation to nation 102 

Government, Hebrew 102 

Government by Judges 149 

Government, original contract of 87 

Hamitic races 41 

Haggai, prophecy of 320 

Hazael 221 

Habakkuk 284 

Hebrew nation, fundamental principle of 46 

Hebrew nation, criminal code 90 

Hebrew nation, destiny was providence 140 

Hebrew nation, king 156 

Hebrew nation, opportunity of nation 167 

Hebrew nation, captives 298 

Hebrew nation, Christ in economy of 341 

Hebrew nation, civil code 97 

Hebrew nation, code humane 101 

Hebrew nation, sacrifices 118 

Hebrew government 102 

Hebrew nation, religious 246 

Hebrew isolation 39 

History, Bible 5 

History, biblical 184 

History, Persian 319 

Hosea, prophecy of 253 

Hosea, application of 255 

Idolatry, treason 94 

Immortality, conditional 21 

Interpretation, principles of 11 

Inspiration 3 

Institution of Passover 81 

Institutions, national , 176 

Institutions, social 177 

Institutions, religious 177 

Isaac and his family 53 

Isaac, his character 54 

Isaac and the blessing 54 

Isaac, our standard of judgment 55 

Israel in bondage 72 

Israel at Sinai 85 

Israel from Egypt to Sinai 82 

Israel, after reign of Jeroboam II 250 

Israel's criterion of morals 245 

Israel's false conception of God 275 



INDEX. 347 

Page. 

Israel's East Jordanic enemies 137 

Isaiah and his times 261 

Isaiah, book of 264 

Isaiah, outlook of 271 

Isaiah, contemporaries of 278 

Isaiah, call of 263 

Isaiah, prophecy of 1st period 265 

Isaiah, relation of, to his times 267 

Isaiah, latter half of, prophecy of 276 

Japhetic nations 40 

Jacob and the blessing 55 

Jacob, supernatural agency in reference to 59 

Jacob wrestles with angel 61 

Jacob and Joseph 56 

Jacob, Bethel experience of 59 

Jacob, Padan-aram life 60 

Jacob, ordinary providences 62 

Jerusalem made the capital 175 

Jews, effect of Alexandrian conquest on 333 

Jews, during reign of Darius 1 323 

Jewish prophets 329 

Jewish parties 337 

Jewish nation after return of 317 

Jeroboam II 232, 250 

Jeroboam's religious policy 195 

Jehoiakim, reign of 282 

Jehoiakim, prophecies during 289 

Jehu, reign of 222 

Jericho 143 

Jehoram, reign of 213 

Jehoahaz, reign of 224 

Jehoash 224 

Jeremiah, after fall of Jerusalem 294 

Jeremiah, prophecy of 287 

Jeremiah, death of 295 

Jehoiachin 291 

Jehoiada, reform of 225 

Joash, reign of 226 

Joel, book of 229 

Jonah, book of '. 234 

Jonah, work of 236 

Jordan, crossing of 141 

Josiah, reign of 281 

Jordanic, conquest 136 

Joseph, a transitional character 67 

Joseph and Jacob 56 

Joseph, native character of 64 

Joseph, dreams of 65 

Journey to Egypt 49 



348 INDEX. 

Page. 

Judges, period of 133 

Judges, succession of o 146 

Judges, government by 149 

Judges, private life during 152 

Judgeship, the 149 

Judgment, no escape from 245 

Judgment, our standard of 55 

Judah's false conception of God 275 

King, the Hebrew 156 

Kings, conquest of 142 

Kings, established 155 

Kingdom, God's attitude to 155 

Kingdom, disruption of 184 

Kingdom, fall of northern 251 

Kingdom, decline of 249 

Kingdom, lessons of 258 

Kingdom, fall of southern 260 

Kingdom, character of northern 194 

Kingdom, southern during 1st epoch 202 

Kingdoms, theocratic 188 

Kingdoms, influences effecting development of 200 

Law, flood and natural 37 

Law, intent of 87 

Law, written law necessary 88 

Law, advantages of written law 90 

Law, character of 90, 96 

Law, prophet subject to 256 

Law, of assault 97 

Law, on usury 97 

Law, book of the 128 

Law, read 144 

Laws on treason 93 

Laws on murder 95 

Laws on servitude 98 

Laws on land 99 

Laws adapted to the time 101 

Laws, humane 101 

Laws, criminal code of 92 

Laws, civil code of 97 

Laws, Levitical code of 108 

Levites, origin of separation 115 

Levites, revenue of tribe 116 

Life, way of 25 

Limit of God's commission 136 

Lower house 105 

Locality of flood 36 



INDEX. 349 

Page. 

Malachi, prophecy of 328 

Maccabees 336 

Manasseh, reign of 280 

Method of study 2 

Meal offering 127 

Migration, the 49 

Micah 278 

Mosaic code a development 91 

Morals, Israel's condition of 245 

Moabite stone 208 

Monotheism, Abraham and 44 

Moses 75 

Murder, laws on 95 

Nahum 279 

Nations, origin of ;• 40 

Nations, Japhetic 40 

Nation, under Solomon 182 

Nation, God's relation to 102 

National congress 104 

Nehemiah 327 

Nebuchadnezzar 292, 304 

Nineveh, fall of 284 

Northern kingdom, fall of 251 

Northern kingdom, lessons from 258 

Noah, his prophecy 337 

Object lesson to Abraham 52 

Obedience, condition of immortality 21 

Office, prophetic 159 

Officers, elected by the people 106 

Offering, Burnt 125 

Offering, Sin 124 

Offering, Meal 127 

Offering, Peace 126 

Opportunity of Hebrew nation 167 

Origin of sacrifice 29 

Origin of nations 40 

Oracles, Hebrew 103 

Oracles, heathen 103 

Omri, reign of 207 

Padan-aram life, Jacob's 60 

Passover, institution of 81 

Passover, typical 81 

Palestine under the Ptolemies 334 

Palestine under the Seleucidae 335 

Palestine under the Romans 338 

Persian history 319 

Persia 305 



350 INDEX. 

Page. 

Permission of evil 67 

Period of Judges 133 

Peace Offering 126 

Pharisees 337 

Pharoah's heart hardened 79 

Philip 332 

Plagues, primary import of 76 

Plagues, character of 77 

Plato 334 

Pompey 339 

Prophetic office 159 

Prophetic call of Isaiah to 263 

Prophets, rise of order of 154 

Prophets, conception of Messiah 330 

Prophets, work of 161 

Prophets, subject to law 256 

Prophets, Jewish 239 

Prophecy, Noah's 37 

Prophecy, principles of intrepretation of 218 

Prophecy, two-fold significance of 230 

Prophecy, Zachariah 231 

Prophecy, Haggai 320 

Prophecy, Daniel 309 

Prophecy, during captivity 307 

Prophecy, after fall of Jerusalem 295 

Prophecy, during reign of Jehoiakim 289 

Prophecy, Jeremiah 283 

Prophecy, Hosea 253 

Prophecy, Malachi 328 

Prophecy, relation of, to the times and man 267 

Prophetism, abuses of 162 

Providences, ordinary 62 

Principles of interpretation 11 

Private life during the Judges 152 

Priesthood, the 114 

Ptolemies, the 334 

Fusey 253 

Races, Hamitic 41 

Races, Semitic 42 

Races, Japhetic 40 

Rahab 145 

Rawlinson 306 

Rebekah and the blessing 55 

Reign, of Saul 167 

Reign, of Solomon 179 

Reign, of Darius 1 323 

Reign, of Ahab 208 

Reign, of Ahaziah 212 

Reign, of Amaziah 228 



INDEX. 351 

Page. 

Reign, of David 171 

Reign, of Jeroboam 232 

Reign, of Jehoiakim 282 

Reign, of Jehoram 213 

Reign, of Jehoahaz 224 

Reign, of Jehoash 224 

Reign, of Joash 226 

Reign, of Josiah 281 

Reign, of Jehu 222 

Reign, of Manasseh 280 

Reign, of Uzziah 233 

Reign, of Omri 207 

Rise of prophetic order 160 

Romans, Palestine under 338 

Sadducee 337 

Sacrifice, origin of heathen 29 

Sacrifice, origin of Hebrew 118 

Sacrifice, of Cain and Abel 30 

Sacrifice, of Abraham 50 

Sacrifice, of justified man 125 

Sacred occasions 116 

Saul, work of 171 

Saul, character of 170 

Saul, reign of , 167 

Science and Bible 12 

Scythian invasion 283 

Seventy elders 104 

Servitude laws on 98 

Seleucidae, Palestine under 335 

Sentence, the 21 

Semitic races 42 

Seth and Cain 33 

Septuagint, infiiience of 335 

Simon, the Just 334 

Sinai, from Egypt to 82 

Sinai, Israel at 85 

Sin Offering 121 

Sin offering, meaning of 122 

Smerdis 319 

Solomon, reign of 179 

Solomon, special events of 172 

Solomon, as a man 180 

Solomon, foreign policy of 181 

Solomon, nation under 182 

Solomon, relation of, to the disruption 184 

Socrates 331, 332 

Spirit, infiuence of 34 

Stanley 305 

Stone, Moabite ► 280 



352 INDEX. 

Page. 

Summary of teaching 15 

Symbolism in trespass offering 124 

Symbol and type 120 

Syro-Ephraimitish invasion 268 

Tabernacle 109 

Tabernacle, an object lesson 112 

Tabernacle, furniture of Ill 

Temptation, the 18 

Temple, the 183 

Territory, East Jordanic 139 

Time covered by Genesis 10 

Tongues, confusion of 42 

Tower of Babel 42 

Trespass Offering, meaning of 123 

Trespass offering, symbolism of 124 

Tribes, relation of 107 

Treason, laws on 93 

Tree of Life 24 

Type and symbol 120 

Usury, laws on 97 

TJzziah, reign of 233 

Way of life 25 

Witchcraft, treason 94 

Wilderness, in the 117 

Work of prophets 161 

Xerxes 324 

Zephaniah, prophecy of 283 

Zedekiah, reign of 291 



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